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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Michael Strogoff, by Jules Verne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Michael Strogoff
+       or, The Courier of the Czar
+
+Author: Jules Verne
+
+Posting Date: November 7, 2008 [EBook #1842]
+Release Date: August, 1999
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHAEL STROGOFF ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Judy Boss
+
+
+
+
+
+MICHAEL STROGOFF
+
+OR, THE COURIER OF THE CZAR
+
+by Jules Verne
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I A FETE AT THE NEW PALACE
+
+
+"SIRE, a fresh dispatch."
+
+"Whence?"
+
+"From Tomsk?"
+
+"Is the wire cut beyond that city?"
+
+"Yes, sire, since yesterday."
+
+"Telegraph hourly to Tomsk, General, and keep me informed of all that
+occurs."
+
+"Sire, it shall be done," answered General Kissoff.
+
+These words were exchanged about two hours after midnight, at the moment
+when the fete given at the New Palace was at the height of its splendor.
+
+During the whole evening the bands of the Preobra-jensky and Paulowsky
+regiments had played without cessation polkas, mazurkas, schottisches,
+and waltzes from among the choicest of their repertoires. Innumerable
+couples of dancers whirled through the magnificent saloons of the
+palace, which stood at a few paces only from the "old house of
+stones"--in former days the scene of so many terrible dramas, the
+echoes of whose walls were this night awakened by the gay strains of the
+musicians.
+
+The grand-chamberlain of the court, was, besides, well seconded in his
+arduous and delicate duties. The grand-dukes and their aides-de-camp,
+the chamberlains-in-waiting and other officers of the palace, presided
+personally in the arrangement of the dances. The grand duchesses,
+covered with diamonds, the ladies-in-waiting in their most exquisite
+costumes, set the example to the wives of the military and civil
+dignitaries of the ancient "city of white stone." When, therefore, the
+signal for the "polonaise" resounded through the saloons, and the guests
+of all ranks took part in that measured promenade, which on occasions
+of this kind has all the importance of a national dance, the mingled
+costumes, the sweeping robes adorned with lace, and uniforms covered
+with orders, presented a scene of dazzling splendor, lighted by hundreds
+of lusters multiplied tenfold by the numerous mirrors adorning the
+walls.
+
+The grand saloon, the finest of all those contained in the New Palace,
+formed to this procession of exalted personages and splendidly dressed
+women a frame worthy of the magnificence they displayed. The rich
+ceiling, with its gilding already softened by the touch of time,
+appeared as if glittering with stars. The embroidered drapery of the
+curtains and doors, falling in gorgeous folds, assumed rich and varied
+hues, broken by the shadows of the heavy masses of damask.
+
+Through the panes of the vast semicircular bay-windows the light, with
+which the saloons were filled, shone forth with the brilliancy of a
+conflagration, vividly illuminating the gloom in which for some hours
+the palace had been shrouded. The attention of those of the guests not
+taking part in the dancing was attracted by the contrast. Resting in the
+recesses of the windows, they could discern, standing out dimly in the
+darkness, the vague outlines of the countless towers, domes, and spires
+which adorn the ancient city. Below the sculptured balconies were
+visible numerous sentries, pacing silently up and down, their rifles
+carried horizontally on the shoulder, and the spikes of their helmets
+glittering like flames in the glare of light issuing from the palace.
+The steps also of the patrols could be heard beating time on the stones
+beneath with even more regularity than the feet of the dancers on the
+floor of the saloon. From time to time the watchword was repeated from
+post to post, and occasionally the notes of a trumpet, mingling with
+the strains of the orchestra, penetrated into their midst. Still farther
+down, in front of the facade, dark masses obscured the rays of light
+which proceeded from the windows of the New Palace. These were boats
+descending the course of a river, whose waters, faintly illumined by a
+few lamps, washed the lower portion of the terraces.
+
+The principal personage who has been mentioned, the giver of the fete,
+and to whom General Kissoff had been speaking in that tone of respect
+with which sovereigns alone are usually addressed, wore the simple
+uniform of an officer of chasseurs of the guard. This was not
+affectation on his part, but the custom of a man who cared little for
+dress, his contrasting strongly with the gorgeous costumes amid which
+he moved, encircled by his escort of Georgians, Cossacks, and
+Circassians--a brilliant band, splendidly clad in the glittering
+uniforms of the Caucasus.
+
+This personage, of lofty stature, affable demeanor, and physiognomy
+calm, though bearing traces of anxiety, moved from group to group,
+seldom speaking, and appearing to pay but little attention either to
+the merriment of the younger guests or the graver remarks of the exalted
+dignitaries or members of the diplomatic corps who represented at the
+Russian court the principal governments of Europe. Two or three of these
+astute politicians--physiognomists by virtue of their profession--failed
+not to detect on the countenance of their host symptoms of disquietude,
+the source of which eluded their penetration; but none ventured to
+interrogate him on the subject.
+
+It was evidently the intention of the officer of chasseurs that his own
+anxieties should in no way cast a shade over the festivities; and, as he
+was a personage whom almost the population of a world in itself was wont
+to obey, the gayety of the ball was not for a moment checked.
+
+Nevertheless, General Kissoff waited until the officer to whom he had
+just communicated the dispatch forwarded from Tomsk should give him
+permission to withdraw; but the latter still remained silent. He had
+taken the telegram, he had read it carefully, and his visage became even
+more clouded than before. Involuntarily he sought the hilt of his sword,
+and then passed his hand for an instant before his eyes, as though,
+dazzled by the brilliancy of the light, he wished to shade them, the
+better to see into the recesses of his own mind.
+
+"We are, then," he continued, after having drawn General Kissoff aside
+towards a window, "since yesterday without intelligence from the Grand
+Duke?"
+
+"Without any, sire; and it is to be feared that in a short time
+dispatches will no longer cross the Siberian frontier."
+
+"But have not the troops of the provinces of Amoor and Irkutsk, as those
+also of the Trans-Balkan territory, received orders to march immediately
+upon Irkutsk?"
+
+"The orders were transmitted by the last telegram we were able to send
+beyond Lake Baikal."
+
+"And the governments of Yeniseisk, Omsk, Semipolatinsk, and Tobolsk--are
+we still in direct communication with them as before the insurrection?"
+
+"Yes, sire; our dispatches have reached them, and we are assured at the
+present moment that the Tartars have not advanced beyond the Irtish and
+the Obi."
+
+"And the traitor Ivan Ogareff, are there no tidings of him?"
+
+"None," replied General Kissoff. "The head of the police cannot state
+whether or not he has crossed the frontier."
+
+"Let a description of him be immediately dispatched to Nijni-Novgorod,
+Perm, Ekaterenburg, Kasirnov, Tioumen, Ishim, Omsk, Tomsk, and to all
+the telegraphic stations with which communication is yet open."
+
+"Your majesty's orders shall be instantly carried out."
+
+"You will observe the strictest silence as to this."
+
+The General, having made a sign of respectful assent, bowing low,
+mingled with the crowd, and finally left the apartments without his
+departure being remarked.
+
+The officer remained absorbed in thought for a few moments, when,
+recovering himself, he went among the various groups in the saloon, his
+countenance reassuming that calm aspect which had for an instant been
+disturbed.
+
+Nevertheless, the important occurrence which had occasioned these
+rapidly exchanged words was not so unknown as the officer of the
+chasseurs of the guard and General Kissoff had possibly supposed. It
+was not spoken of officially, it is true, nor even officiously, since
+tongues were not free; but a few exalted personages had been informed,
+more or less exactly, of the events which had taken place beyond the
+frontier. At any rate, that which was only slightly known, that which
+was not matter of conversation even between members of the corps
+diplomatique, two guests, distinguished by no uniform, no decoration,
+at this reception in the New Palace, discussed in a low voice, and with
+apparently very correct information.
+
+By what means, by the exercise of what acuteness had these two ordinary
+mortals ascertained that which so many persons of the highest rank and
+importance scarcely even suspected? It is impossible to say. Had
+they the gifts of foreknowledge and foresight? Did they possess a
+supplementary sense, which enabled them to see beyond that limited
+horizon which bounds all human gaze? Had they obtained a peculiar power
+of divining the most secret events? Was it owing to the habit, now
+become a second nature, of living on information, that their mental
+constitution had thus become really transformed? It was difficult to
+escape from this conclusion.
+
+Of these two men, the one was English, the other French; both were tall
+and thin, but the latter was sallow as are the southern Provencals,
+while the former was ruddy like a Lancashire gentleman. The
+Anglo-Norman, formal, cold, grave, parsimonious of gestures and words,
+appeared only to speak or gesticulate under the influence of a spring
+operating at regular intervals. The Gaul, on the contrary, lively and
+petulant, expressed himself with lips, eyes, hands, all at once,
+having twenty different ways of explaining his thoughts, whereas his
+interlocutor seemed to have only one, immutably stereotyped on his
+brain.
+
+The strong contrast they presented would at once have struck the most
+superficial observer; but a physiognomist, regarding them closely, would
+have defined their particular characteristics by saying, that if the
+Frenchman was "all eyes," the Englishman was "all ears."
+
+In fact, the visual apparatus of the one had been singularly
+perfected by practice. The sensibility of its retina must have been as
+instantaneous as that of those conjurors who recognize a card merely by
+a rapid movement in cutting the pack or by the arrangement only of
+marks invisible to others. The Frenchman indeed possessed in the highest
+degree what may be called "the memory of the eye."
+
+The Englishman, on the contrary, appeared especially organized to listen
+and to hear. When his aural apparatus had been once struck by the sound
+of a voice he could not forget it, and after ten or even twenty years he
+would have recognized it among a thousand. His ears, to be sure, had not
+the power of moving as freely as those of animals who are provided with
+large auditory flaps; but, since scientific men know that human ears
+possess, in fact, a very limited power of movement, we should not be far
+wrong in affirming that those of the said Englishman became erect, and
+turned in all directions while endeavoring to gather in the sounds, in
+a manner apparent only to the naturalist. It must be observed that this
+perfection of sight and hearing was of wonderful assistance to these two
+men in their vocation, for the Englishman acted as correspondent of the
+Daily Telegraph, and the Frenchman, as correspondent of what newspaper,
+or of what newspapers, he did not say; and when asked, he replied in a
+jocular manner that he corresponded with "his cousin Madeleine." This
+Frenchman, however, neath his careless surface, was wonderfully shrewd
+and sagacious. Even while speaking at random, perhaps the better to hide
+his desire to learn, he never forgot himself. His loquacity even helped
+him to conceal his thoughts, and he was perhaps even more discreet than
+his confrere of the Daily Telegraph. Both were present at this fete
+given at the New Palace on the night of the 15th of July in their
+character of reporters.
+
+It is needless to say that these two men were devoted to their mission
+in the world--that they delighted to throw themselves in the track of
+the most unexpected intelligence--that nothing terrified or discouraged
+them from succeeding--that they possessed the imperturbable sang froid
+and the genuine intrepidity of men of their calling. Enthusiastic
+jockeys in this steeplechase, this hunt after information, they
+leaped hedges, crossed rivers, sprang over fences, with the ardor of
+pure-blooded racers, who will run "a good first" or die!
+
+Their journals did not restrict them with regard to money--the surest,
+the most rapid, the most perfect element of information known to this
+day. It must also be added, to their honor, that neither the one nor
+the other ever looked over or listened at the walls of private life,
+and that they only exercised their vocation when political or social
+interests were at stake. In a word, they made what has been for some
+years called "the great political and military reports."
+
+It will be seen, in following them, that they had generally an
+independent mode of viewing events, and, above all, their consequences,
+each having his own way of observing and appreciating.
+
+The French correspondent was named Alcide Jolivet. Harry Blount was the
+name of the Englishman. They had just met for the first time at this
+fete in the New Palace, of which they had been ordered to give an
+account in their papers. The dissimilarity of their characters, added to
+a certain amount of jealousy, which generally exists between rivals
+in the same calling, might have rendered them but little sympathetic.
+However, they did not avoid each other, but endeavored rather to
+exchange with each other the chat of the day. They were sportsmen,
+after all, hunting on the same ground. That which one missed might be
+advantageously secured by the other, and it was to their interest to
+meet and converse.
+
+This evening they were both on the look out; they felt, in fact, that
+there was something in the air.
+
+"Even should it be only a wildgoose chase," said Alcide Jolivet to
+himself, "it may be worth powder and shot."
+
+The two correspondents therefore began by cautiously sounding each
+other.
+
+"Really, my dear sir, this little fete is charming!" said Alcide Jolivet
+pleasantly, thinking himself obliged to begin the conversation with this
+eminently French phrase.
+
+"I have telegraphed already, 'splendid!'" replied Harry Blount calmly,
+employing the word specially devoted to expressing admiration by all
+subjects of the United Kingdom.
+
+"Nevertheless," added Alcide Jolivet, "I felt compelled to remark to my
+cousin--"
+
+"Your cousin?" repeated Harry Blount in a tone of surprise, interrupting
+his brother of the pen.
+
+"Yes," returned Alcide Jolivet, "my cousin Madeleine. It is with her
+that I correspond, and she likes to be quickly and well informed, does
+my cousin. I therefore remarked to her that, during this fete, a sort of
+cloud had appeared to overshadow the sovereign's brow."
+
+"To me, it seemed radiant," replied Harry Blount, who perhaps, wished to
+conceal his real opinion on this topic.
+
+"And, naturally, you made it 'radiant,' in the columns of the Daily
+Telegraph."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Do you remember, Mr. Blount, what occurred at Zakret in 1812?"
+
+"I remember it as well as if I had been there, sir," replied the English
+correspondent.
+
+"Then," continued Alcide Jolivet, "you know that, in the middle of a
+fete given in his honor, it was announced to the Emperor Alexander that
+Napoleon had just crossed the Niemen with the vanguard of the
+French army. Nevertheless the Emperor did not leave the fete, and
+notwithstanding the extreme gravity of intelligence which might cost him
+his empire, he did not allow himself to show more uneasiness."
+
+"Than our host exhibited when General Kissoff informed him that the
+telegraphic wires had just been cut between the frontier and the
+government of Irkutsk."
+
+"Ah! you are aware of that?"
+
+"I am!"
+
+"As regards myself, it would be difficult to avoid knowing it, since
+my last telegram reached Udinsk," observed Alcide Jolivet, with some
+satisfaction.
+
+"And mine only as far as Krasnoiarsk," answered Harry Blount, in a no
+less satisfied tone.
+
+"Then you know also that orders have been sent to the troops of
+Nikolaevsk?"
+
+"I do, sir; and at the same time a telegram was sent to the Cossacks of
+the government of Tobolsk to concentrate their forces."
+
+"Nothing can be more true, Mr. Blount; I was equally well acquainted
+with these measures, and you may be sure that my dear cousin shall know
+of them to-morrow."
+
+"Exactly as the readers of the Daily Telegraph shall know it also, M.
+Jolivet."
+
+"Well, when one sees all that is going on...."
+
+"And when one hears all that is said...."
+
+"An interesting campaign to follow, Mr. Blount."
+
+"I shall follow it, M. Jolivet!"
+
+"Then it is possible that we shall find ourselves on ground less safe,
+perhaps, than the floor of this ball-room."
+
+"Less safe, certainly, but--"
+
+"But much less slippery," added Alcide Jolivet, holding up his
+companion, just as the latter, drawing back, was about to lose his
+equilibrium.
+
+Thereupon the two correspondents separated, pleased that the one had not
+stolen a march on the other.
+
+At that moment the doors of the rooms adjoining the great reception
+saloon were thrown open, disclosing to view several immense tables
+beautifully laid out, and groaning under a profusion of valuable
+china and gold plate. On the central table, reserved for the princes,
+princesses, and members of the corps diplomatique, glittered an epergne
+of inestimable price, brought from London, and around this chef-d'oeuvre
+of chased gold reflected under the light of the lusters a thousand
+pieces of most beautiful service from the manufactories of Sevres.
+
+The guests of the New Palace immediately began to stream towards the
+supper-rooms.
+
+At that moment. General Kissoff, who had just re-entered, quickly
+approached the officer of chasseurs.
+
+"Well?" asked the latter abruptly, as he had done the former time.
+
+"Telegrams pass Tomsk no longer, sire."
+
+"A courier this moment!"
+
+The officer left the hall and entered a large antechamber adjoining. It
+was a cabinet with plain oak furniture, situated in an angle of the New
+Palace. Several pictures, amongst others some by Horace Vernet, hung on
+the wall.
+
+The officer hastily opened a window, as if he felt the want of air, and
+stepped out on a balcony to breathe the pure atmosphere of a lovely July
+night. Beneath his eyes, bathed in moonlight, lay a fortified inclosure,
+from which rose two cathedrals, three palaces, and an arsenal. Around
+this inclosure could be seen three distinct towns: Kitai-Gorod,
+Beloi-Gorod, Zemlianai-Gorod--European, Tartar, and Chinese quarters of
+great extent, commanded by towers, belfries, minarets, and the cupolas
+of three hundred churches, with green domes, surmounted by the silver
+cross. A little winding river, here and there reflected the rays of the
+moon.
+
+This river was the Moskowa; the town Moscow; the fortified inclosure
+the Kremlin; and the officer of chasseurs of the guard, who, with folded
+arms and thoughtful brow, was listening dreamily to the sounds floating
+from the New Palace over the old Muscovite city, was the Czar.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II RUSSIANS AND TARTARS
+
+THE Czar had not so suddenly left the ball-room of the New Palace,
+when the fete he was giving to the civil and military authorities and
+principal people of Moscow was at the height of its brilliancy, without
+ample cause; for he had just received information that serious events
+were taking place beyond the frontiers of the Ural. It had become
+evident that a formidable rebellion threatened to wrest the Siberian
+provinces from the Russian crown.
+
+Asiatic Russia, or Siberia, covers a superficial area of 1,790,208
+square miles, and contains nearly two millions of inhabitants. Extending
+from the Ural Mountains, which separate it from Russia in Europe, to the
+shores of the Pacific Ocean, it is bounded on the south by Turkestan and
+the Chinese Empire; on the north by the Arctic Ocean, from the Sea of
+Kara to Behring's Straits. It is divided into several governments or
+provinces, those of Tobolsk, Yeniseisk, Irkutsk, Omsk, and Yakutsk;
+contains two districts, Okhotsk and Kamtschatka; and possesses two
+countries, now under the Muscovite dominion--that of the Kirghiz and
+that of the Tshouktshes. This immense extent of steppes, which includes
+more than one hundred and ten degrees from west to east, is a land to
+which criminals and political offenders are banished.
+
+Two governor-generals represent the supreme authority of the Czar over
+this vast country. The higher one resides at Irkutsk, the far capital of
+Eastern Siberia. The River Tchouna separates the two Siberias.
+
+No rail yet furrows these wide plains, some of which are in reality
+extremely fertile. No iron ways lead from those precious mines which
+make the Siberian soil far richer below than above its surface. The
+traveler journeys in summer in a kibick or telga; in winter, in a
+sledge.
+
+An electric telegraph, with a single wire more than eight thousand
+versts in length, alone affords communication between the western
+and eastern frontiers of Siberia. On issuing from the Ural, it passes
+through Ekaterenburg, Kasirnov, Tioumen, Ishim, Omsk, Elamsk, Kolyvan,
+Tomsk, Krasnoiarsk, Nijni-Udinsk, Irkutsk, Verkne-Nertschink, Strelink,
+Albazine, Blagowstenks, Radde, Orlomskaya, Alexandrowskoe, and
+Nikolaevsk; and six roubles and nineteen copecks are paid for every
+word sent from one end to the other. From Irkutsk there is a branch to
+Kiatka, on the Mongolian frontier; and from thence, for thirty copecks a
+word, the post conveys the dispatches to Pekin in a fortnight.
+
+It was this wire, extending from Ekaterenburg to Nikolaevsk, which had
+been cut, first beyond Tomsk, and then between Tomsk and Kolyvan.
+
+This was why the Czar, to the communication made to him for the second
+time by General Kissoff, had answered by the words, "A courier this
+moment!"
+
+The Czar remained motionless at the window for a few moments, when the
+door was again opened. The chief of police appeared on the threshold.
+
+"Enter, General," said the Czar briefly, "and tell me all you know of
+Ivan Ogareff."
+
+"He is an extremely dangerous man, sire," replied the chief of police.
+
+"He ranked as colonel, did he not?"
+
+"Yes, sire."
+
+"Was he an intelligent officer?"
+
+"Very intelligent, but a man whose spirit it was impossible to subdue;
+and possessing an ambition which stopped at nothing, he became involved
+in secret intrigues, and was degraded from his rank by his Highness the
+Grand Duke, and exiled to Siberia."
+
+"How long ago was that?"
+
+"Two years since. Pardoned after six months of exile by your majesty's
+favor, he returned to Russia."
+
+"And since that time, has he not revisited Siberia?"
+
+"Yes, sire; but he voluntarily returned there," replied the chief of
+police, adding, and slightly lowering his voice, "there was a time,
+sire, when NONE returned from Siberia."
+
+"Well, whilst I live, Siberia is and shall be a country whence men CAN
+return."
+
+The Czar had the right to utter these words with some pride, for often,
+by his clemency, he had shown that Russian justice knew how to pardon.
+
+The head of the police did not reply to this observation, but it was
+evident that he did not approve of such half-measures. According to
+his idea, a man who had once passed the Ural Mountains in charge of
+policemen, ought never again to cross them. Now, it was not thus under
+the new reign, and the chief of police sincerely deplored it. What! no
+banishment for life for other crimes than those against social order!
+What! political exiles returning from Tobolsk, from Yakutsk, from
+Irkutsk! In truth, the chief of police, accustomed to the despotic
+sentences of the ukase which formerly never pardoned, could not
+understand this mode of governing. But he was silent, waiting until
+the Czar should interrogate him further. The questions were not long in
+coming.
+
+"Did not Ivan Ogareff," asked the Czar, "return to Russia a second time,
+after that journey through the Siberian provinces, the object of which
+remains unknown?"
+
+"He did."
+
+"And have the police lost trace of him since?"
+
+"No, sire; for an offender only becomes really dangerous from the day he
+has received his pardon."
+
+The Czar frowned. Perhaps the chief of police feared that he had gone
+rather too far, though the stubbornness of his ideas was at least
+equal to the boundless devotion he felt for his master. But the Czar,
+disdaining to reply to these indirect reproaches cast on his policy,
+continued his questions. "Where was Ogareff last heard of?"
+
+"In the province of Perm."
+
+"In what town?"
+
+"At Perm itself."
+
+"What was he doing?"
+
+"He appeared unoccupied, and there was nothing suspicious in his
+conduct."
+
+"Then he was not under the surveillance of the secret police?"
+
+"No, sire."
+
+"When did he leave Perm?"
+
+"About the month of March?"
+
+"To go...?"
+
+"Where, is unknown."
+
+"And it is not known what has become of him?"
+
+"No, sire; it is not known."
+
+"Well, then, I myself know," answered the Czar. "I have received
+anonymous communications which did not pass through the police
+department; and, in the face of events now taking place beyond the
+frontier, I have every reason to believe that they are correct."
+
+"Do you mean, sire," cried the chief of police, "that Ivan Ogareff has a
+hand in this Tartar rebellion?"
+
+"Indeed I do; and I will now tell you something which you are ignorant
+of. After leaving Perm, Ivan Ogareff crossed the Ural mountains, entered
+Siberia, and penetrated the Kirghiz steppes, and there endeavored, not
+without success, to foment rebellion amongst their nomadic population.
+He then went so far south as free Turkestan; there, in the provinces of
+Bokhara, Khokhand, and Koondooz, he found chiefs willing to pour their
+Tartar hordes into Siberia, and excite a general rising in Asiatic
+Russia. The storm has been silently gathering, but it has at last burst
+like a thunderclap, and now all means of communication between Eastern
+and Western Siberia have been stopped. Moreover, Ivan Ogareff, thirsting
+for vengeance, aims at the life of my brother!"
+
+The Czar had become excited whilst speaking, and now paced up and down
+with hurried steps. The chief of police said nothing, but he thought to
+himself that, during the time when the emperors of Russia never pardoned
+an exile, schemes such as those of Ivan Ogareff could never have been
+realized. Approaching the Czar, who had thrown himself into an armchair,
+he asked, "Your majesty has of course given orders so that this
+rebellion may be suppressed as soon as possible?"
+
+"Yes," answered the Czar. "The last telegram which reached Nijni-Udinsk
+would set in motion the troops in the governments of Yenisei, Irkutsk,
+Yakutsk, as well as those in the provinces of the Amoor and Lake Baikal.
+At the same time, the regiments from Perm and Nijni-Novgorod, and the
+Cossacks from the frontier, are advancing by forced marches towards
+the Ural Mountains; but some weeks must pass before they can attack the
+Tartars."
+
+"And your majesty's brother, his Highness the Grand Duke, is now
+isolated in the government of Irkutsk, and is no longer in direct
+communication with Moscow?"
+
+"That is so."
+
+"But by the last dispatches, he must know what measures have been
+taken by your majesty, and what help he may expect from the governments
+nearest Irkutsk?"
+
+"He knows that," answered the Czar; "but what he does not know is, that
+Ivan Ogareff, as well as being a rebel, is also playing the part of a
+traitor, and that in him he has a personal and bitter enemy. It is to
+the Grand Duke that Ogareff owes his first disgrace; and what is
+more serious is, that this man is not known to him. Ogareff's plan,
+therefore, is to go to Irkutsk, and, under an assumed name, offer his
+services to the Grand Duke. Then, after gaining his confidence, when the
+Tartars have invested Irkutsk, he will betray the town, and with it my
+brother, whose life he seeks. This is what I have learned from my secret
+intelligence; this is what the Grand Duke does not know; and this is
+what he must know!"
+
+"Well, sire, an intelligent, courageous courier..."
+
+"I momentarily expect one."
+
+"And it is to be hoped he will be expeditious," added the chief of
+police; "for, allow me to add, sire, that Siberia is a favorable land
+for rebellions."
+
+"Do you mean to say. General, that the exiles would make common cause
+with the rebels?" exclaimed the Czar.
+
+"Excuse me, your majesty," stammered the chief of police, for that was
+really the idea suggested to him by his uneasy and suspicious mind.
+
+"I believe in their patriotism," returned the Czar.
+
+"There are other offenders besides political exiles in Siberia," said
+the chief of police.
+
+"The criminals? Oh, General, I give those up to you! They are the
+vilest, I grant, of the human race. They belong to no country. But the
+insurrection, or rather, the rebellion, is not to oppose the emperor; it
+is raised against Russia, against the country which the exiles have
+not lost all hope of again seeing--and which they will see again. No, a
+Russian would never unite with a Tartar, to weaken, were it only for an
+hour, the Muscovite power!"
+
+The Czar was right in trusting to the patriotism of those whom his
+policy kept, for a time, at a distance. Clemency, which was the
+foundation of his justice, when he could himself direct its effects,
+the modifications he had adopted with regard to applications for the
+formerly terrible ukases, warranted the belief that he was not mistaken.
+But even without this powerful element of success in regard to the
+Tartar rebellion, circumstances were not the less very serious; for it
+was to be feared that a large part of the Kirghiz population would join
+the rebels.
+
+The Kirghiz are divided into three hordes, the greater, the lesser,
+and the middle, and number nearly four hundred thousand "tents," or two
+million souls. Of the different tribes some are independent and others
+recognize either the sovereignty of Russia or that of the Khans of
+Khiva, Khokhand, and Bokhara, the most formidable chiefs of Turkestan.
+The middle horde, the richest, is also the largest, and its encampments
+occupy all the space between the rivers Sara Sou, Irtish, and the Upper
+Ishim, Lake Saisang and Lake Aksakal. The greater horde, occupying the
+countries situated to the east of the middle one, extends as far as the
+governments of Omsk and Tobolsk. Therefore, if the Kirghiz population
+should rise, it would be the rebellion of Asiatic Russia, and the first
+thing would be the separation of Siberia, to the east of the Yenisei.
+
+It is true that these Kirghiz, mere novices in the art of war, are
+rather nocturnal thieves and plunderers of caravans than regular
+soldiers. As M. Levchine says, "a firm front or a square of good
+infantry could repel ten times the number of Kirghiz; and a single
+cannon might destroy a frightful number."
+
+That may be; but to do this it is necessary for the square of good
+infantry to reach the rebellious country, and the cannon to leave the
+arsenals of the Russian provinces, perhaps two or three thousand versts
+distant. Now, except by the direct route from Ekaterenburg to Irkutsk,
+the often marshy steppes are not easily practicable, and some weeks must
+certainly pass before the Russian troops could reach the Tartar hordes.
+
+Omsk is the center of that military organization of Western Siberia
+which is intended to overawe the Kirghiz population. Here are the
+bounds, more than once infringed by the half-subdued nomads, and there
+was every reason to believe that Omsk was already in danger. The line of
+military stations, that is to say, those Cossack posts which are ranged
+in echelon from Omsk to Semipolatinsk, must have been broken in several
+places. Now, it was to be feared that the "Grand Sultans," who govern
+the Kirghiz districts would either voluntarily accept, or involuntarily
+submit to, the dominion of Tartars, Mussulmen like themselves, and
+that to the hate caused by slavery was not united the hate due to the
+antagonism of the Greek and Mussulman religions. For some time, indeed,
+the Tartars of Turkestan had endeavored, both by force and persuasion,
+to subdue the Kirghiz hordes.
+
+A few words only with respect to these Tartars. The Tartars belong more
+especially to two distinct races, the Caucasian and the Mongolian. The
+Caucasian race, which, as Abel de Remusat says, "is regarded in Europe
+as the type of beauty in our species, because all the nations in this
+part of the world have sprung from it," includes also the Turks and the
+Persians. The purely Mongolian race comprises the Mongols, Manchoux, and
+Thibetans.
+
+The Tartars who now threatened the Russian Empire, belonged to the
+Caucasian race, and occupied Turkestan. This immense country is divided
+into different states, governed by Khans, and hence termed Khanats. The
+principal khanats are those of Bokhara, Khokhand, Koondooz, etc. At this
+period, the most important and the most formidable khanat was that of
+Bokhara. Russia had already been several times at war with its chiefs,
+who, for their own interests, had supported the independence of the
+Kirghiz against the Muscovite dominion. The present chief, Feofar-Khan,
+followed in the steps of his predecessors.
+
+The khanat of Bokhara has a population of two million five hundred
+thousand inhabitants, an army of sixty thousand men, trebled in time
+of war, and thirty thousand horsemen. It is a rich country, with varied
+animal, vegetable, and mineral products, and has been increased by the
+accession of the territories of Balkh, Aukoi, and Meimaneh. It possesses
+nineteen large towns. Bokhara, surrounded by a wall measuring more than
+eight English miles, and flanked with towers, a glorious city, made
+illustrious by Avicenna and other learned men of the tenth century, is
+regarded as the center of Mussulman science, and ranks among the most
+celebrated cities of Central Asia. Samarcand, which contains the tomb
+of Tamerlane and the famous palace where the blue stone is kept on which
+each new khan must seat himself on his accession, is defended by a very
+strong citadel. Karschi, with its triple cordon, situated in an oasis,
+surrounded by a marsh peopled with tortoises and lizards, is almost
+impregnable, Is-chardjoui is defended by a population of twenty thousand
+souls. Protected by its mountains, and isolated by its steppes, the
+khanat of Bokhara is a most formidable state; and Russia would need a
+large force to subdue it.
+
+The fierce and ambitious Feofar now governed this corner of Tartary.
+Relying on the other khans--principally those of Khokhand and Koondooz,
+cruel and rapacious warriors, all ready to join an enterprise so dear
+to Tartar instincts--aided by the chiefs who ruled all the hordes of
+Central Asia, he had placed himself at the head of the rebellion of
+which Ivan Ogareff was the instigator. This traitor, impelled by insane
+ambition as much as by hate, had ordered the movement so as to attack
+Siberia. Mad indeed he was, if he hoped to rupture the Muscovite Empire.
+Acting under his suggestion, the Emir--which is the title taken by the
+khans of Bokhara--had poured his hordes over the Russian frontier. He
+invaded the government of Semipolatinsk, and the Cossacks, who were
+only in small force there, had been obliged to retire before him. He had
+advanced farther than Lake Balkhash, gaining over the Kirghiz population
+on his way. Pillaging, ravaging, enrolling those who submitted, taking
+prisoners those who resisted, he marched from one town to another,
+followed by those impedimenta of Oriental sovereignty which may be
+called his household, his wives and his slaves--all with the cool
+audacity of a modern Ghengis-Khan. It was impossible to ascertain where
+he now was; how far his soldiers had marched before the news of the
+rebellion reached Moscow; or to what part of Siberia the Russian troops
+had been forced to retire. All communication was interrupted. Had the
+wire between Kolyvan and Tomsk been cut by Tartar scouts, or had the
+Emir himself arrived at the Yeniseisk provinces? Was all the lower part
+of Western Siberia in a ferment? Had the rebellion already spread to the
+eastern regions? No one could say. The only agent which fears neither
+cold nor heat, which can neither be stopped by the rigors of winter nor
+the heat of summer, and which flies with the rapidity of lightning--the
+electric current--was prevented from traversing the steppes, and it was
+no longer possible to warn the Grand Duke, shut up in Irkutsk, of the
+danger threatening him from the treason of Ivan Ogareff.
+
+A courier only could supply the place of the interrupted current. It
+would take this man some time to traverse the five thousand two hundred
+versts between Moscow and Irkutsk. To pass the ranks of the rebels and
+invaders he must display almost superhuman courage and intelligence. But
+with a clear head and a firm heart much can be done.
+
+"Shall I be able to find this head and heart?" thought the Czar.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III MICHAEL STROGOFF MEETS THE CZAR
+
+THE door of the imperial cabinet was again opened and General Kissoff
+was announced.
+
+"The courier?" inquired the Czar eagerly.
+
+"He is here, sire," replied General Kissoff.
+
+"Have you found a fitting man?"
+
+"I will answer for him to your majesty."
+
+"Has he been in the service of the Palace?"
+
+"Yes, sire."
+
+"You know him?"
+
+"Personally, and at various times he has fulfilled difficult missions
+with success."
+
+"Abroad?"
+
+"In Siberia itself."
+
+"Where does he come from?"
+
+"From Omsk. He is a Siberian."
+
+"Has he coolness, intelligence, courage?"
+
+"Yes, sire; he has all the qualities necessary to succeed, even where
+others might possibly fail."
+
+"What is his age?"
+
+"Thirty."
+
+"Is he strong and vigorous?"
+
+"Sire, he can bear cold, hunger, thirst, fatigue, to the very last
+extremities."
+
+"He must have a frame of iron."
+
+"Sire, he has."
+
+"And a heart?"
+
+"A heart of gold."
+
+"His name?"
+
+"Michael Strogoff."
+
+"Is he ready to set out?"
+
+"He awaits your majesty's orders in the guard-room."
+
+"Let him come in," said the Czar.
+
+In a few moments Michael Strogoff, the courier, entered the imperial
+library. He was a tall, vigorous, broad-shouldered, deep-chested man.
+His powerful head possessed the fine features of the Caucasian race. His
+well-knit frame seemed built for the performance of feats of strength.
+It would have been a difficult task to move such a man against his will,
+for when his feet were once planted on the ground, it was as if they had
+taken root. As he doffed his Muscovite cap, locks of thick curly hair
+fell over his broad, massive forehead. When his ordinarily pale face
+became at all flushed, it arose solely from a more rapid action of the
+heart. His eyes, of a deep blue, looked with clear, frank, firm gaze.
+The slightly-contracted eyebrows indicated lofty heroism--"the hero's
+cool courage," according to the definition of the physiologist. He
+possessed a fine nose, with large nostrils; and a well-shaped mouth,
+with the slightly-projecting lips which denote a generous and noble
+heart.
+
+Michael Strogoff had the temperament of the man of action, who does not
+bite his nails or scratch his head in doubt and indecision. Sparing of
+gestures as of words, he always stood motionless like a soldier before
+his superior; but when he moved, his step showed a firmness, a freedom
+of movement, which proved the confidence and vivacity of his mind.
+
+Michael Strogoff wore a handsome military uniform something resembling
+that of a light-cavalry officer in the field--boots, spurs, half
+tightly-fitting trousers, brown pelisse, trimmed with fur and ornamented
+with yellow braid. On his breast glittered a cross and several medals.
+
+Michael Strogoff belonged to the special corps of the Czar's couriers,
+ranking as an officer among those picked men. His most discernible
+characteristic--particularly in his walk, his face, in the whole man,
+and which the Czar perceived at a glance--was, that he was "a fulfiller
+of orders." He therefore possessed one of the most serviceable qualities
+in Russia--one which, as the celebrated novelist Tourgueneff says, "will
+lead to the highest positions in the Muscovite empire."
+
+In short, if anyone could accomplish this journey from Moscow to
+Irkutsk, across a rebellious country, surmount obstacles, and brave
+perils of all sorts, Michael Strogoff was the man.
+
+A circumstance especially favorable to the success of his plan was,
+that he was thoroughly acquainted with the country which he was about
+to traverse, and understood its different dialects--not only from having
+traveled there before, but because he was of Siberian origin.
+
+His father--old Peter Strogoff, dead ten years since--inhabited the town
+of Omsk, situated in the government of the same name; and his mother,
+Marfa Strogoff, lived there still. There, amid the wild steppes of the
+provinces of Omsk and Tobolsk, had the famous huntsman brought up
+his son Michael to endure hardship. Peter Strogoff was a huntsman by
+profession. Summer and winter--in the burning heat, as well as when
+the cold was sometimes fifty degrees below zero--he scoured the frozen
+plains, the thickets of birch and larch, the pine forests; setting
+traps; watching for small game with his gun, and for large game with the
+spear or knife. The large game was nothing less than the Siberian bear,
+a formidable and ferocious animal, in size equaling its fellow of the
+frozen seas. Peter Strogoff had killed more than thirty-nine bears--that
+is to say, the fortieth had fallen under his blows; and, according to
+Russian legends, most huntsmen who have been lucky enough up to the
+thirty-ninth bear, have succumbed to the fortieth.
+
+Peter Strogoff had, however, passed the fatal number without even a
+scratch. From that time, his son Michael, aged eleven years, never
+failed to accompany him to the hunt, carrying the ragatina or spear to
+aid his father, who was armed only with the knife. When he was fourteen,
+Michael Strogoff had killed his first bear, quite alone--that was
+nothing; but after stripping it he dragged the gigantic animal's skin to
+his father's house, many versts distant, exhibiting remarkable strength
+in a boy so young.
+
+This style of life was of great benefit to him, and when he arrived
+at manhood he could bear any amount of cold, heat, hunger, thirst, or
+fatigue. Like the Yakout of the northern countries, he was made of iron.
+He could go four-and-twenty hours without eating, ten nights without
+sleeping, and could make himself a shelter in the open steppe where
+others would have been frozen to death. Gifted with marvelous acuteness,
+guided by the instinct of the Delaware of North America, over the white
+plain, when every object is hidden in mist, or even in higher latitudes,
+where the polar night is prolonged for many days, he could find his way
+when others would have had no idea whither to turn. All his father's
+secrets were known to him. He had learnt to read almost imperceptible
+signs--the forms of icicles, the appearance of the small branches of
+trees, mists rising far away in the horizon, vague sounds in the air,
+distant reports, the flight of birds through the foggy atmosphere, a
+thousand circumstances which are so many words to those who can decipher
+them. Moreover, tempered by snow like a Damascus blade in the waters of
+Syria, he had a frame of iron, as General Kissoff had said, and, what
+was no less true, a heart of gold.
+
+The only sentiment of love felt by Michael Strogoff was that which he
+entertained for his mother, the aged Marfa, who could never be induced
+to leave the house of the Strogoffs, at Omsk, on the banks of the
+Irtish, where the old huntsman and she had lived so long together. When
+her son left her, he went away with a full heart, but promising to come
+and see her whenever he could possibly do so; and this promise he had
+always religiously kept.
+
+When Michael was twenty, it was decided that he should enter the
+personal service of the Emperor of Russia, in the corps of the couriers
+of the Czar. The hardy, intelligent, zealous, well-conducted young
+Siberian first distinguished himself especially, in a journey to the
+Caucasus, through the midst of a difficult country, ravaged by some
+restless successors of Schamyl; then later, in an important mission
+to Petropolowski, in Kamtschatka, the extreme limit of Asiatic Russia.
+During these long journeys he displayed such marvelous coolness,
+prudence, and courage, as to gain him the approbation and protection of
+his chiefs, who rapidly advanced him in his profession.
+
+The furloughs which were his due after these distant missions, he never
+failed to devote to his old mother. Having been much employed in the
+south of the empire, he had not seen old Marfa for three years--three
+ages!--the first time in his life he had been so long absent from her.
+Now, however, in a few days he would obtain his furlough, and he had
+accordingly already made preparations for departure for Omsk, when the
+events which have been related occurred. Michael Strogoff was therefore
+introduced into the Czar's presence in complete ignorance of what the
+emperor expected from him.
+
+The Czar fixed a penetrating look upon him without uttering a word,
+whilst Michael stood perfectly motionless.
+
+The Czar, apparently satisfied with his scrutiny, motioned to the chief
+of police to seat himself, and dictated in a low voice a letter of not
+more than a few lines.
+
+The letter penned, the Czar re-read it attentively, then signed it,
+preceding his name with the words "Byt po semou," which, signifying "So
+be it," constitutes the decisive formula of the Russian emperors.
+
+The letter was then placed in an envelope, which was sealed with the
+imperial arms.
+
+The Czar, rising, told Michael Strogoff to draw near.
+
+Michael advanced a few steps, and then stood motionless, ready to
+answer.
+
+The Czar again looked him full in the face and their eyes met. Then in
+an abrupt tone, "Thy name?" he asked.
+
+"Michael Strogoff, sire."
+
+"Thy rank?"
+
+"Captain in the corps of couriers of the Czar."
+
+"Thou dost know Siberia?"
+
+"I am a Siberian."
+
+"A native of?"
+
+"Omsk, sire."
+
+"Hast thou relations there?"
+
+"Yes sire."
+
+"What relations?"
+
+"My old mother."
+
+The Czar suspended his questions for a moment. Then, pointing to the
+letter which he held in his hand, "Here is a letter which I charge thee,
+Michael Strogoff, to deliver into the hands of the Grand Duke, and to no
+other but him."
+
+"I will deliver it, sire."
+
+"The Grand Duke is at Irkutsk."
+
+"I will go to Irkutsk."
+
+"Thou wilt have to traverse a rebellious country, invaded by Tartars,
+whose interest it will be to intercept this letter."
+
+"I will traverse it."
+
+"Above all, beware of the traitor, Ivan Ogareff, who will perhaps meet
+thee on the way."
+
+"I will beware of him."
+
+"Wilt thou pass through Omsk?"
+
+"Sire, that is my route."
+
+"If thou dost see thy mother, there will be the risk of being
+recognized. Thou must not see her!"
+
+Michael Strogoff hesitated a moment.
+
+"I will not see her," said he.
+
+"Swear to me that nothing will make thee acknowledge who thou art, nor
+whither thou art going."
+
+"I swear it."
+
+"Michael Strogoff," continued the Czar, giving the letter to the young
+courier, "take this letter; on it depends the safety of all Siberia, and
+perhaps the life of my brother the Grand Duke."
+
+"This letter shall be delivered to his Highness the Grand Duke."
+
+"Then thou wilt pass whatever happens?"
+
+"I shall pass, or they shall kill me."
+
+"I want thee to live."
+
+"I shall live, and I shall pass," answered Michael Strogoff.
+
+The Czar appeared satisfied with Strogoff's calm and simple answer.
+
+"Go then, Michael Strogoff," said he, "go for God, for Russia, for my
+brother, and for myself!"
+
+The courier, having saluted his sovereign, immediately left the imperial
+cabinet, and, in a few minutes, the New Palace.
+
+"You made a good choice there, General," said the Czar.
+
+"I think so, sire," replied General Kissoff; "and your majesty may be
+sure that Michael Strogoff will do all that a man can do."
+
+"He is indeed a man," said the Czar.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV FROM MOSCOW TO NIJNI-NOVGOROD
+
+THE distance between Moscow and Irkutsk, about to be traversed by
+Michael Strogoff, was three thousand four hundred miles. Before the
+telegraph wire extended from the Ural Mountains to the eastern frontier
+of Siberia, the dispatch service was performed by couriers, those who
+traveled the most rapidly taking eighteen days to get from Moscow to
+Irkutsk. But this was the exception, and the journey through Asiatic
+Russia usually occupied from four to five weeks, even though every
+available means of transport was placed at the disposal of the Czar's
+messengers.
+
+Michael Strogoff was a man who feared neither frost nor snow. He would
+have preferred traveling during the severe winter season, in order that
+he might perform the whole distance by sleighs. At that period of the
+year the difficulties which all other means of locomotion present are
+greatly diminished, the wide steppes being leveled by snow, while there
+are no rivers to cross, but simply sheets of glass, over which the
+sleigh glides rapidly and easily.
+
+Perhaps certain natural phenomena are most to be feared at that time,
+such as long-continuing and dense fogs, excessive cold, fearfully heavy
+snow-storms, which sometimes envelop whole caravans and cause their
+destruction. Hungry wolves also roam over the plain in thousands. But
+it would have been better for Michael Strogoff to face these risks; for
+during the winter the Tartar invaders would have been stationed in the
+towns, any movement of their troops would have been impracticable, and
+he could consequently have more easily performed his journey. But it
+was not in his power to choose either weather or time. Whatever the
+circumstances, he must accept them and set out.
+
+Such were the difficulties which Michael Strogoff boldly confronted and
+prepared to encounter.
+
+In the first place, he must not travel as a courier of the Czar usually
+would. No one must even suspect what he really was. Spies swarm in a
+rebellious country; let him be recognized, and his mission would be in
+danger. Also, while supplying him with a large sum of money, which was
+sufficient for his journey, and would facilitate it in some measure,
+General Kissoff had not given him any document notifying that he was on
+the Emperor's service, which is the Sesame par excellence. He contented
+himself with furnishing him with a "podorojna."
+
+This podorojna was made out in the name of Nicholas Korpanoff, merchant,
+living at Irkutsk. It authorized Nicholas Korpanoff to be accompanied
+by one or more persons, and, moreover, it was, by special notification,
+made available in the event of the Muscovite government forbidding
+natives of any other countries to leave Russia.
+
+The podorojna is simply a permission to take post-horses; but Michael
+Strogoff was not to use it unless he was sure that by so doing he would
+not excite suspicion as to his mission, that is to say, whilst he was
+on European territory. The consequence was that in Siberia, whilst
+traversing the insurgent provinces, he would have no power over the
+relays, either in the choice of horses in preference to others, or in
+demanding conveyances for his personal use; neither was Michael Strogoff
+to forget that he was no longer a courier, but a plain merchant,
+Nicholas Korpanoff, traveling from Moscow to Irkutsk, and, as such
+exposed to all the impediments of an ordinary journey.
+
+To pass unknown, more or less rapidly, but to pass somehow, such were
+the directions he had received.
+
+Thirty years previously, the escort of a traveler of rank consisted of
+not less than two hundred mounted Cossacks, two hundred foot-soldiers,
+twenty-five Baskir horsemen, three hundred camels, four hundred horses,
+twenty-five wagons, two portable boats, and two pieces of cannon. All
+this was requisite for a journey in Siberia.
+
+Michael Strogoff, however, had neither cannon, nor horsemen, nor
+foot-soldiers, nor beasts of burden. He would travel in a carriage or on
+horseback, when he could; on foot, when he could not.
+
+There would be no difficulty in getting over the first thousand miles,
+the distance between Moscow and the Russian frontier. Railroads,
+post-carriages, steamboats, relays of horses, were at everyone's
+disposal, and consequently at the disposal of the courier of the Czar.
+
+Accordingly, on the morning of the 16th of July, having doffed his
+uniform, with a knapsack on his back, dressed in the simple Russian
+costume--tightly-fitting tunic, the traditional belt of the Moujik,
+wide trousers, gartered at the knees, and high boots--Michael Strogoff
+arrived at the station in time for the first train. He carried no arms,
+openly at least, but under his belt was hidden a revolver and in his
+pocket, one of those large knives, resembling both a cutlass and a
+yataghan, with which a Siberian hunter can so neatly disembowel a bear,
+without injuring its precious fur.
+
+A crowd of travelers had collected at the Moscow station. The stations
+on the Russian railroads are much used as places for meeting, not only
+by those who are about to proceed by the train, but by friends who come
+to see them off. The station resembles, from the variety of characters
+assembled, a small news exchange.
+
+The train in which Michael took his place was to set him down at
+Nijni-Novgorod. There terminated at that time, the iron road which,
+uniting Moscow and St. Petersburg, has since been continued to the
+Russian frontier. It was a journey of under three hundred miles, and the
+train would accomplish it in ten hours. Once arrived at Nijni-Novgorod,
+Strogoff would either take the land route or the steamer on the Volga,
+so as to reach the Ural Mountains as soon as possible.
+
+Michael Strogoff ensconced himself in his corner, like a worthy citizen
+whose affairs go well with him, and who endeavors to kill time by sleep.
+Nevertheless, as he was not alone in his compartment, he slept with one
+eye open, and listened with both his ears.
+
+In fact, rumor of the rising of the Kirghiz hordes, and of the Tartar
+invasion had transpired in some degree. The occupants of the carriage,
+whom chance had made his traveling companions, discussed the subject,
+though with that caution which has become habitual among Russians, who
+know that spies are ever on the watch for any treasonable expressions
+which may be uttered.
+
+These travelers, as well as the large number of persons in the train,
+were merchants on their way to the celebrated fair of Nijni-Novgorod;--a
+very mixed assembly, composed of Jews, Turks, Cossacks, Russians,
+Georgians, Kalmucks, and others, but nearly all speaking the national
+tongue.
+
+They discussed the pros and cons of the serious events which were taking
+place beyond the Ural, and those merchants seemed to fear lest
+the government should be led to take certain restrictive measures,
+especially in the provinces bordering on the frontier--measures from
+which trade would certainly suffer. They apparently thought only of the
+struggle from the single point of view of their threatened interests.
+The presence of a private soldier, clad in his uniform--and the
+importance of a uniform in Russia is great--would have certainly been
+enough to restrain the merchants' tongues. But in the compartment
+occupied by Michael Strogoff, there was no one who seemed a military
+man, and the Czar's courier was not the person to betray himself. He
+listened, then.
+
+"They say that caravan teas are up," remarked a Persian, known by his
+cap of Astrakhan fur, and his ample brown robe, worn threadbare by use.
+
+"Oh, there's no fear of teas falling," answered an old Jew of sullen
+aspect. "Those in the market at Nijni-Novgorod will be easily cleared
+off by the West; but, unfortunately, it won't be the same with Bokhara
+carpets."
+
+"What! are you expecting goods from Bokhara?" asked the Persian.
+
+"No, but from Samarcand, and that is even more exposed. The idea of
+reckoning on the exports of a country in which the khans are in a state
+of revolt from Khiva to the Chinese frontier!"
+
+"Well," replied the Persian, "if the carpets do not arrive, the drafts
+will not arrive either, I suppose."
+
+"And the profits, Father Abraham!" exclaimed the little Jew, "do you
+reckon them as nothing?"
+
+"You are right," said another; "goods from Central Asia run a great risk
+in the market, and it will be the same with the tallow and shawls from
+the East."
+
+"Why, look out, little father," said a Russian traveler, in a bantering
+tone; "you'll grease your shawls terribly if you mix them up with your
+tallow."
+
+"That amuses you," sharply answered the merchant, who had little relish
+for that sort of joke.
+
+"Well, if you tear your hair, or if you throw ashes on your head,"
+replied the traveler, "will that change the course of events? No; no
+more than the course of the Exchange."
+
+"One can easily see that you are not a merchant," observed the little
+Jew.
+
+"Faith, no, worthy son of Abraham! I sell neither hops, nor eider-down,
+nor honey, nor wax, nor hemp-seed, nor salt meat, nor caviare, nor wood,
+nor wool, nor ribbons, nor, hemp, nor flax, nor morocco, nor furs."
+
+"But do you buy them?" asked the Persian, interrupting the traveler's
+list.
+
+"As little as I can, and only for my own private use," answered the
+other, with a wink.
+
+"He's a wag," said the Jew to the Persian.
+
+"Or a spy," replied the other, lowering his voice. "We had better
+take care, and not speak more than necessary. The police are not
+over-particular in these times, and you never can know with whom you are
+traveling."
+
+In another corner of the compartment they were speaking less of
+mercantile affairs, and more of the Tartar invasion and its annoying
+consequences.
+
+"All the horses in Siberia will be requisitioned," said a traveler,
+"and communication between the different provinces of Central Asia will
+become very difficult."
+
+"Is it true," asked his neighbor, "that the Kirghiz of the middle horde
+have joined the Tartars?"
+
+"So it is said," answered the traveler, lowering his voice; "but who can
+flatter themselves that they know anything really of what is going on in
+this country?"
+
+"I have heard speak of a concentration of troops on the frontier. The
+Don Cossacks have already gathered along the course of the Volga, and
+they are to be opposed to the rebel Kirghiz."
+
+"If the Kirghiz descend the Irtish, the route to Irkutsk will not be
+safe," observed his neighbor. "Besides, yesterday I wanted to send
+a telegram to Krasnoiarsk, and it could not be forwarded. It's to be
+feared that before long the Tartar columns will have isolated Eastern
+Siberia."
+
+"In short, little father," continued the first speaker, "these merchants
+have good reason for being uneasy about their trade and transactions.
+After requisitioning the horses, they will take the boats, carriages,
+every means of transport, until presently no one will be allowed to take
+even one step in all the empire."
+
+"I'm much afraid that the Nijni-Novgorod fair won't end as brilliantly
+as it has begun," responded the other, shaking his head. "But the safety
+and integrity of the Russian territory before everything. Business is
+business."
+
+If in this compartment the subject of conversation varied but
+little--nor did it, indeed, in the other carriages of the train--in all
+it might have been observed that the talkers used much circumspection.
+When they did happen to venture out of the region of facts, they never
+went so far as to attempt to divine the intentions of the Muscovite
+government, or even to criticize them.
+
+This was especially remarked by a traveler in a carriage at the front
+part of the train. This person--evidently a stranger--made good use
+of his eyes, and asked numberless questions, to which he received only
+evasive answers. Every minute leaning out of the window, which he would
+keep down, to the great disgust of his fellow-travelers, he lost
+nothing of the views to the right. He inquired the names of the most
+insignificant places, their position, what were their commerce, their
+manufactures, the number of their inhabitants, the average mortality,
+etc., and all this he wrote down in a note-book, already full.
+
+This was the correspondent Alcide Jolivet, and the reason of his putting
+so many insignificant questions was, that amongst the many answers he
+received, he hoped to find some interesting fact "for his cousin." But,
+naturally enough, he was taken for a spy, and not a word treating of the
+events of the day was uttered in his hearing.
+
+Finding, therefore, that he could learn nothing of the Tartar invasion,
+he wrote in his book, "Travelers of great discretion. Very close as to
+political matters."
+
+Whilst Alcide Jolivet noted down his impressions thus minutely, his
+confrere, in the same train, traveling for the same object, was devoting
+himself to the same work of observation in another compartment. Neither
+of them had seen each other that day at the Moscow station, and they
+were each ignorant that the other had set out to visit the scene of the
+war. Harry Blount, speaking little, but listening much, had not inspired
+his companions with the suspicions which Alcide Jolivet had aroused.
+He was not taken for a spy, and therefore his neighbors, without
+constraint, gossiped in his presence, allowing themselves even to go
+farther than their natural caution would in most cases have allowed
+them. The correspondent of the Daily Telegraph had thus an opportunity
+of observing how much recent events preoccupied the merchants of
+Nijni-Novgorod, and to what a degree the commerce with Central Asia was
+threatened in its transit.
+
+He therefore noted in his book this perfectly correct observation, "My
+fellow-travelers extremely anxious. Nothing is talked of but war, and
+they speak of it, with a freedom which is astonishing, as having broken
+out between the Volga and the Vistula."
+
+The readers of the Daily Telegraph would not fail to be as well informed
+as Alcide Jolivet's "cousin." But as Harry Blount, seated at the left
+of the train, only saw one part of the country, which was hilly, without
+giving himself the trouble of looking at the right side, which was
+composed of wide plains, he added, with British assurance, "Country
+mountainous between Moscow and Wladimir."
+
+It was evident that the Russian government purposed taking severe
+measures to guard against any serious eventualities even in the interior
+of the empire. The rebel lion had not crossed the Siberian frontier, but
+evil influences might be feared in the Volga provinces, so near to the
+country of the Kirghiz.
+
+The police had as yet found no traces of Ivan Ogareff. It was not known
+whether the traitor, calling in the foreigner to avenge his personal
+rancor, had rejoined Feofar-Khan, or whether he was endeavoring to
+foment a revolt in the government of Nijni-Novgorod, which at this time
+of year contained a population of such diverse elements. Perhaps among
+the Persians, Armenians, or Kalmucks, who flocked to the great market,
+he had agents, instructed to provoke a rising in the interior. All this
+was possible, especially in such a country as Russia. In fact, this
+vast empire, 4,000,000 square miles in extent, does not possess the
+homogeneousness of the states of Western Europe. The Russian territory
+in Europe and Asia contains more than seventy millions of inhabitants.
+In it thirty different languages are spoken. The Sclavonian race
+predominates, no doubt, but there are besides Russians, Poles,
+Lithuanians, Courlanders. Add to these, Finns, Laplanders, Esthonians,
+several other northern tribes with unpronounceable names, the Permiaks,
+the Germans, the Greeks, the Tartars, the Caucasian tribes, the
+Mongol, Kalmuck, Samoid, Kamtschatkan, and Aleutian hordes, and one
+may understand that the unity of so vast a state must be difficult
+to maintain, and that it could only be the work of time, aided by the
+wisdom of many successive rulers.
+
+Be that as it may, Ivan Ogareff had hitherto managed to escape all
+search, and very probably he might have rejoined the Tartar army. But
+at every station where the train stopped, inspectors came forward
+who scrutinized the travelers and subjected them all to a minute
+examination, as by order of the superintendent of police, these
+officials were seeking Ivan Ogareff. The government, in fact, believed
+it to be certain that the traitor had not yet been able to quit European
+Russia. If there appeared cause to suspect any traveler, he was carried
+off to explain himself at the police station, and in the meantime the
+train went on its way, no person troubling himself about the unfortunate
+one left behind.
+
+With the Russian police, which is very arbitrary, it is absolutely
+useless to argue. Military rank is conferred on its employees, and
+they act in military fashion. How can anyone, moreover, help obeying,
+unhesitatingly, orders which emanate from a monarch who has the right to
+employ this formula at the head of his ukase: "We, by the grace of God,
+Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias of Moscow, Kiev, Wladimir, and
+Novgorod, Czar of Kasan and Astrakhan, Czar of Poland, Czar of Siberia,
+Czar of the Tauric Chersonese, Seignior of Pskov, Prince of Smolensk,
+Lithuania, Volkynia, Podolia, and Finland, Prince of Esthonia, Livonia,
+Courland, and of Semigallia, of Bialystok, Karelia, Sougria, Perm,
+Viatka, Bulgaria, and many other countries; Lord and Sovereign Prince
+of the territory of Nijni-Novgorod, Tchemigoff, Riazan, Polotsk, Rostov,
+Jaroslavl, Bielozersk, Oudoria, Obdoria, Kondinia, Vitepsk, and of
+Mstislaf, Governor of the Hyperborean Regions, Lord of the countries of
+Iveria, Kartalinia, Grou-zinia, Kabardinia, and Armenia, Hereditary Lord
+and Suzerain of the Scherkess princes, of those of the mountains, and
+of others; heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn,
+Dittmarsen, and Oldenburg." A powerful lord, in truth, is he whose arms
+are an eagle with two heads, holding a scepter and a globe, surrounded
+by the escutcheons of Novgorod, Wladimir, Kiev, Kasan, Astrakhan, and
+of Siberia, and environed by the collar of the order of St. Andrew,
+surmounted by a royal crown!
+
+As to Michael Strogoff, his papers were in order, and he was,
+consequently, free from all police supervision.
+
+At the station of Wladimir the train stopped for several minutes, which
+appeared sufficient to enable the correspondent of the Daily Telegraph
+to take a twofold view, physical and moral, and to form a complete
+estimate of this ancient capital of Russia.
+
+At the Wladimir station fresh travelers joined the train. Among others,
+a young girl entered the compartment occupied by Michael Strogoff. A
+vacant place was found opposite the courier. The young girl took it,
+after placing by her side a modest traveling-bag of red leather, which
+seemed to constitute all her luggage. Then seating herself with downcast
+eyes, not even glancing at the fellow-travelers whom chance had given
+her, she prepared for a journey which was still to last several hours.
+
+Michael Strogoff could not help looking attentively at his newly-arrived
+fellow-traveler. As she was so placed as to travel with her back to the
+engine, he even offered her his seat, which he might prefer to her own,
+but she thanked him with a slight bend of her graceful neck.
+
+The young girl appeared to be about sixteen or seventeen years of age.
+Her head, truly charming, was of the purest Sclavonic type--slightly
+severe, and likely in a few summers to unfold into beauty rather than
+mere prettiness. From beneath a sort of kerchief which she wore on her
+head escaped in profusion light golden hair. Her eyes were brown, soft,
+and expressive of much sweetness of temper. The nose was straight,
+and attached to her pale and somewhat thin cheeks by delicately mobile
+nostrils. The lips were finely cut, but it seemed as if they had long
+since forgotten how to smile.
+
+The young traveler was tall and upright, as far as could be judged of
+her figure from the very simple and ample pelisse that covered her.
+Although she was still a very young girl in the literal sense of the
+term, the development of her high forehead and clearly-cut features gave
+the idea that she was the possessor of great moral energy--a point which
+did not escape Michael Strogoff. Evidently this young girl had already
+suffered in the past, and the future doubtless did not present itself
+to her in glowing colors; but she had surely known how to struggle
+still with the trials of life. Her energy was evidently both prompt and
+persistent, and her calmness unalterable, even under circumstances in
+which a man would be likely to give way or lose his self-command.
+
+Such was the impression which she produced at first sight. Michael
+Strogoff, being himself of an energetic temperament, was naturally
+struck by the character of her physiognomy, and, while taking care
+not to cause her annoyance by a too persistent gaze, he observed his
+neighbor with no small interest. The costume of the young traveler was
+both extremely simple and appropriate. She was not rich--that could
+be easily seen; but not the slightest mark of negligence was to be
+discerned in her dress. All her luggage was contained in the leather bag
+which, for want of room, she held on her lap.
+
+She wore a long, dark pelisse, gracefully adjusted at the neck by a
+blue tie. Under this pelisse, a short skirt, also dark, fell over a robe
+which reached the ankles. Half-boots of leather, thickly soled, as if
+chosen in anticipation of a long journey, covered her small feet.
+
+Michael Strogoff fancied that he recognized, by certain details, the
+fashion of the costume of Livonia, and thought his neighbor a native of
+the Baltic provinces.
+
+But whither was this young girl going, alone, at an age when the
+fostering care of a father, or the protection of a brother, is
+considered a matter of necessity? Had she now come, after an already
+long journey, from the provinces of Western Russia? Was she merely going
+to Nijni-Novgorod, or was the end of her travels beyond the eastern
+frontiers of the empire? Would some relation, some friend, await her
+arrival by the train? Or was it not more probable, on the contrary, that
+she would find herself as much isolated in the town as she was in this
+compartment? It was probable.
+
+In fact, the effect of habits contracted in solitude was clearly
+manifested in the bearing of the young girl. The manner in which she
+entered the carriage and prepared herself for the journey, the slight
+disturbance she caused among those around her, the care she took not to
+incommode or give trouble to anyone, all showed that she was accustomed
+to be alone, and to depend on herself only.
+
+Michael Strogoff observed her with interest, but, himself reserved,
+he sought no opportunity of accosting her. Once only, when her
+neighbor--the merchant who had jumbled together so imprudently in his
+remarks tallow and shawls--being asleep, and threatening her with his
+great head, which was swaying from one shoulder to the other, Michael
+Strogoff awoke him somewhat roughly, and made him understand that he
+must hold himself upright.
+
+The merchant, rude enough by nature, grumbled some words against "people
+who interfere with what does not concern them," but Michael Strogoff
+cast on him a glance so stern that the sleeper leant on the opposite
+side, and relieved the young traveler from his unpleasant vicinity.
+
+The latter looked at the young man for an instant, and mute and modest
+thanks were in that look.
+
+But a circumstance occurred which gave Strogoff a just idea of
+the character of the maiden. Twelve versts before arriving at
+Nijni-Novgorod, at a sharp curve of the iron way, the train experienced
+a very violent shock. Then, for a minute, it ran onto the slope of an
+embankment.
+
+Travelers more or less shaken about, cries, confusion, general disorder
+in the carriages--such was the effect at first produced. It was to
+be feared that some serious accident had happened. Consequently,
+even before the train had stopped, the doors were opened, and the
+panic-stricken passengers thought only of getting out of the carriages.
+
+Michael Strogoff thought instantly of the young girl; but, while the
+passengers in her compartment were precipitating themselves outside,
+screaming and struggling, she had remained quietly in her place, her
+face scarcely changed by a slight pallor.
+
+She waited--Michael Strogoff waited also.
+
+Both remained quiet.
+
+"A determined nature!" thought Michael Strogoff.
+
+However, all danger had quickly disappeared. A breakage of the coupling
+of the luggage-van had first caused the shock to, and then the stoppage
+of, the train, which in another instant would have been thrown from the
+top of the embankment into a bog. There was an hour's delay. At last,
+the road being cleared, the train proceeded, and at half-past eight in
+the evening arrived at the station of Nijni-Novgorod.
+
+
+
+Before anyone could get out of the carriages, the inspectors of police
+presented themselves at the doors and examined the passengers.
+
+Michael Strogoff showed his podorojna, made out in the name of Nicholas
+Korpanoff. He had consequently no difficulty. As to the other travelers
+in the compartment, all bound for Nijni-Novgorod, their appearance,
+happily for them, was in nowise suspicious.
+
+The young girl in her turn, exhibited, not a passport, since passports
+are no longer required in Russia, but a permit indorsed with a private
+seal, and which seemed to be of a special character. The inspector read
+the permit with attention. Then, having attentively examined the person
+whose description it contained:
+
+"You are from Riga?" he said.
+
+"Yes," replied the young girl.
+
+"You are going to Irkutsk?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"By what route?"
+
+"By Perm."
+
+"Good!" replied the inspector. "Take care to have your permit vised, at
+the police station of Nijni-Novgorod."
+
+The young girl bent her head in token of assent.
+
+Hearing these questions and replies, Michael Strogoff experienced a
+mingled sentiment both of surprise and pity. What! this young girl,
+alone, journeying to that far-off Siberia, and at a time when, to its
+ordinary dangers, were added all the perils of an invaded country and
+one in a state of insurrection! How would she reach it? What would
+become of her?
+
+The inspection ended, the doors of the carriages were then opened, but,
+before Michael Strogoff could move towards her, the young Livonian,
+who had been the first to descend, had disappeared in the crowd which
+thronged the platforms of the railway station.
+
+CHAPTER V THE TWO ANNOUNCEMENTS
+
+NIJNI-NOVGOROD, Lower Novgorod, situate at the junction of the Volga and
+the Oka, is the chief town in the district of the same name. It was here
+that Michael Strogoff was obliged to leave the railway, which at the
+time did not go beyond that town. Thus, as he advanced, his traveling
+would become first less speedy and then less safe.
+
+Nijni-Novgorod, the fixed population of which is only from thirty to
+thirty-five thousand inhabitants, contained at that time more than three
+hundred thousand; that is to say, the population was increased tenfold.
+This addition was in consequence of the celebrated fair, which was held
+within the walls for three weeks. Formerly Makariew had the benefit of
+this concourse of traders, but since 1817 the fair had been removed to
+Nijni-Novgorod.
+
+Even at the late hour at which Michael Strogoff left the platform, there
+was still a large number of people in the two towns, separated by the
+stream of the Volga, which compose Nijni-Novgorod. The highest of
+these is built on a steep rock, and defended by a fort called in Russia
+"kreml."
+
+Michael Strogoff expected some trouble in finding a hotel, or even an
+inn, to suit him. As he had not to start immediately, for he was going
+to take a steamer, he was compelled to look out for some lodging;
+but, before doing so, he wished to know exactly the hour at which the
+steamboat would start. He went to the office of the company whose boats
+plied between Nijni-Novgorod and Perm. There, to his great annoyance,
+he found that no boat started for Perm till the following day at twelve
+o'clock. Seventeen hours to wait! It was very vexatious to a man so
+pressed for time. However, he never senselessly murmured. Besides, the
+fact was that no other conveyance could take him so quickly either to
+Perm or Kasan. It would be better, then, to wait for the steamer, which
+would enable him to regain lost time.
+
+Here, then, was Michael Strogoff, strolling through the town and
+quietly looking out for some inn in which to pass the night. However, he
+troubled himself little on this score, and, but that hunger pressed
+him, he would probably have wandered on till morning in the streets
+of Nijni-Novgorod. He was looking for supper rather than a bed. But
+he found both at the sign of the City of Constantinople. There, the
+landlord offered him a fairly comfortable room, with little furniture,
+it is true, but not without an image of the Virgin, and a few saints
+framed in yellow gauze.
+
+A goose filled with sour stuffing swimming in thick cream, barley bread,
+some curds, powdered sugar mixed with cinnamon, and a jug of kwass, the
+ordinary Russian beer, were placed before him, and sufficed to satisfy
+his hunger. He did justice to the meal, which was more than could be
+said of his neighbor at table, who, having, in his character of "old
+believer" of the sect of Raskalniks, made the vow of abstinence,
+rejected the potatoes in front of him, and carefully refrained from
+putting sugar in his tea.
+
+His supper finished, Michael Strogoff, instead of going up to his
+bedroom, again strolled out into the town. But, although the long
+twilight yet lingered, the crowd was already dispersing, the streets
+were gradually becoming empty, and at length everyone retired to his
+dwelling.
+
+Why did not Michael Strogoff go quietly to bed, as would have seemed
+more reasonable after a long railway journey? Was he thinking of the
+young Livonian girl who had been his traveling companion? Having nothing
+better to do, he WAS thinking of her. Did he fear that, lost in this
+busy city, she might be exposed to insult? He feared so, and with
+good reason. Did he hope to meet her, and, if need were, to afford her
+protection? No. To meet would be difficult. As to protection--what right
+had he--
+
+"Alone," he said to himself, "alone, in the midst of these wandering
+tribes! And yet the present dangers are nothing compared to those she
+must undergo. Siberia! Irkutsk! I am about to dare all risks for Russia,
+for the Czar, while she is about to do so--For whom? For what? She is
+authorized to cross the frontier! The country beyond is in revolt! The
+steppes are full of Tartar bands!"
+
+Michael Strogoff stopped for an instant, and reflected.
+
+"Without doubt," thought he, "she must have determined on undertaking
+her journey before the invasion. Perhaps she is even now ignorant of
+what is happening. But no, that cannot be; the merchants discussed
+before her the disturbances in Siberia--and she did not seem surprised.
+She did not even ask an explanation. She must have known it then, and
+knowing it, is still resolute. Poor girl! Her motive for the journey
+must be urgent indeed! But though she may be brave--and she certainly
+is so--her strength must fail her, and, to say nothing of dangers and
+obstacles, she will be unable to endure the fatigue of such a journey.
+Never can she reach Irkutsk!"
+
+Indulging in such reflections, Michael Strogoff wandered on as chance
+led him; being well acquainted with the town, he knew that he could
+easily retrace his steps.
+
+Having strolled on for about an hour, he seated himself on a bench
+against the wall of a large wooden cottage, which stood, with many
+others, on a vast open space. He had scarcely been there five minutes
+when a hand was laid heavily on his shoulder.
+
+"What are you doing here?" roughly demanded a tall and powerful man, who
+had approached unperceived.
+
+"I am resting," replied Michael Strogoff.
+
+"Do you mean to stay all night on the bench?"
+
+"Yes, if I feel inclined to do so," answered Michael Strogoff, in a tone
+somewhat too sharp for the simple merchant he wished to personate.
+
+"Come forward, then, so I can see you," said the man.
+
+Michael Strogoff, remembering that, above all, prudence was requisite,
+instinctively drew back. "It is not necessary," he replied, and calmly
+stepped back ten paces.
+
+The man seemed, as Michael observed him well, to have the look of
+a Bohemian, such as are met at fairs, and with whom contact, either
+physical or moral, is unpleasant. Then, as he looked more attentively
+through the dusk, he perceived, near the cottage, a large caravan, the
+usual traveling dwelling of the Zingaris or gypsies, who swarm in Russia
+wherever a few copecks can be obtained.
+
+As the gypsy took two or three steps forward, and was about to
+interrogate Michael Strogoff more closely, the door of the cottage
+opened. He could just see a woman, who spoke quickly in a language which
+Michael Strogoff knew to be a mixture of Mongol and Siberian.
+
+"Another spy! Let him alone, and come to supper. The papluka is waiting
+for you."
+
+Michael Strogoff could not help smiling at the epithet bestowed on him,
+dreading spies as he did above all else.
+
+In the same dialect, although his accent was very different, the
+Bohemian replied in words which signify, "You are right, Sangarre!
+Besides, we start to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow?" repeated the woman in surprise.
+
+"Yes, Sangarre," replied the Bohemian; "to-morrow, and the Father
+himself sends us--where we are going!"
+
+Thereupon the man and woman entered the cottage, and carefully closed
+the door.
+
+"Good!" said Michael Strogoff, to himself; "if these gipsies do not wish
+to be understood when they speak before me, they had better use some
+other language."
+
+From his Siberian origin, and because he had passed his childhood in the
+Steppes, Michael Strogoff, it has been said, understood almost all
+the languages in usage from Tartary to the Sea of Ice. As to the exact
+signification of the words he had heard, he did not trouble his head.
+For why should it interest him?
+
+It was already late when he thought of returning to his inn to take some
+repose. He followed, as he did so, the course of the Volga, whose waters
+were almost hidden under the countless number of boats floating on its
+bosom.
+
+An hour after, Michael Strogoff was sleeping soundly on one of those
+Russian beds which always seem so hard to strangers, and on the morrow,
+the 17th of July, he awoke at break of day.
+
+He had still five hours to pass in Nijni-Novgorod; it seemed to him an
+age. How was he to spend the morning unless in wandering, as he had done
+the evening before, through the streets? By the time he had finished
+his breakfast, strapped up his bag, had his podorojna inspected at the
+police office, he would have nothing to do but start. But he was not a
+man to lie in bed after the sun had risen; so he rose, dressed himself,
+placed the letter with the imperial arms on it carefully at the bottom
+of its usual pocket within the lining of his coat, over which he
+fastened his belt; he then closed his bag and threw it over his
+shoulder. This done, he had no wish to return to the City of
+Constantinople, and intending to breakfast on the bank of the Volga near
+the wharf, he settled his bill and left the inn. By way of precaution,
+Michael Strogoff went first to the office of the steam-packet company,
+and there made sure that the Caucasus would start at the appointed hour.
+As he did so, the thought for the first time struck him that, since the
+young Livonian girl was going to Perm, it was very possible that her
+intention was also to embark in the Caucasus, in which case he should
+accompany her.
+
+The town above with its kremlin, whose circumference measures two
+versts, and which resembles that of Moscow, was altogether abandoned.
+Even the governor did not reside there. But if the town above was like a
+city of the dead, the town below, at all events, was alive.
+
+Michael Strogoff, having crossed the Volga on a bridge of boats, guarded
+by mounted Cossacks, reached the square where the evening before he had
+fallen in with the gipsy camp. This was somewhat outside the town, where
+the fair of Nijni-Novgorod was held. In a vast plain rose the temporary
+palace of the governor-general, where by imperial orders that great
+functionary resided during the whole of the fair, which, thanks to the
+people who composed it, required an ever-watchful surveillance.
+
+This plain was now covered with booths symmetrically arranged in such
+a manner as to leave avenues broad enough to allow the crowd to pass
+without a crush.
+
+Each group of these booths, of all sizes and shapes, formed a separate
+quarter particularly dedicated to some special branch of commerce. There
+was the iron quarter, the furriers' quarter, the woolen quarter, the
+quarter of the wood merchants, the weavers' quarter, the dried fish
+quarter, etc. Some booths were even built of fancy materials, some of
+bricks of tea, others of masses of salt meat--that is to say, of
+samples of the goods which the owners thus announced were there to the
+purchasers--a singular, and somewhat American, mode of advertisement.
+
+In the avenues and long alleys there was already a large assemblage of
+people--the sun, which had risen at four o'clock, being well above the
+horizon--an extraordinary mixture of Europeans and Asiatics, talking,
+wrangling, haranguing, and bargaining. Everything which can be bought
+or sold seemed to be heaped up in this square. Furs, precious stones,
+silks, Cashmere shawls, Turkey carpets, weapons from the Caucasus,
+gauzes from Smyrna and Ispahan. Tiflis armor, caravan teas. European
+bronzes, Swiss clocks, velvets and silks from Lyons, English cottons,
+harness, fruits, vegetables, minerals from the Ural, malachite,
+lapis-lazuli, spices, perfumes, medicinal herbs, wood, tar, rope, horn,
+pumpkins, water-melons, etc--all the products of India, China, Persia,
+from the shores of the Caspian and the Black Sea, from America and
+Europe, were united at this corner of the globe.
+
+It is scarcely possible truly to portray the moving mass of human beings
+surging here and there, the excitement, the confusion, the hubbub;
+demonstrative as were the natives and the inferior classes, they were
+completely outdone by their visitors. There were merchants from Central
+Asia, who had occupied a year in escorting their merchandise across its
+vast plains, and who would not again see their shops and counting-houses
+for another year to come. In short, of such importance is this fair of
+Nijni-Novgorod, that the sum total of its transactions amounts yearly to
+nearly a hundred million dollars.
+
+On one of the open spaces between the quarters of this temporary city
+were numbers of mountebanks of every description; gypsies from the
+mountains, telling fortunes to the credulous fools who are ever to
+be found in such assemblies; Zingaris or Tsiganes--a name which the
+Russians give to the gypsies who are the descendants of the ancient
+Copts--singing their wildest melodies and dancing their most original
+dances; comedians of foreign theaters, acting Shakespeare, adapted to
+the taste of spectators who crowded to witness them. In the long avenues
+the bear showmen accompanied their four-footed dancers, menageries
+resounded with the hoarse cries of animals under the influence of the
+stinging whip or red-hot irons of the tamer; and, besides all these
+numberless performers, in the middle of the central square, surrounded
+by a circle four deep of enthusiastic amateurs, was a band of "mariners
+of the Volga," sitting on the ground, as on the deck of their vessel,
+imitating the action of rowing, guided by the stick of the master of the
+orchestra, the veritable helmsman of this imaginary vessel! A whimsical
+and pleasing custom!
+
+Suddenly, according to a time-honored observance in the fair of
+Nijni-Novgorod, above the heads of the vast concourse a flock of birds
+was allowed to escape from the cages in which they had been brought to
+the spot. In return for a few copecks charitably offered by some good
+people, the bird-fanciers opened the prison doors of their captives, who
+flew out in hundreds, uttering their joyous notes.
+
+It should be mentioned that England and France, at all events, were this
+year represented at the great fair of Nijni-Novgorod by two of the most
+distinguished products of modern civilization, Messrs. Harry Blount
+and Alcide Jolivet. Jolivet, an optimist by nature, found everything
+agreeable, and as by chance both lodging and food were to his taste,
+he jotted down in his book some memoranda particularly favorable to the
+town of Nijni-Novgorod. Blount, on the contrary, having in vain hunted
+for a supper, had been obliged to find a resting-place in the open
+air. He therefore looked at it all from another point of view, and was
+preparing an article of the most withering character against a town in
+which the landlords of the inns refused to receive travelers who only
+begged leave to be flayed, "morally and physically."
+
+Michael Strogoff, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his
+cherry-stemmed pipe, appeared the most indifferent and least impatient
+of men; yet, from a certain contraction of his eyebrows every now and
+then, a careful observer would have seen that he was burning to be off.
+
+For two hours he kept walking about the streets, only to find himself
+invariably at the fair again. As he passed among the groups of buyers
+and sellers he discovered that those who came from countries on the
+confines of Asia manifested great uneasiness. Their trade was visibly
+suffering. Another symptom also was marked. In Russia military uniforms
+appear on every occasion. Soldiers are wont to mix freely with the
+crowd, the police agents being almost invariably aided by a number
+of Cossacks, who, lance on shoulder, keep order in the crowd of three
+hundred thousand strangers. But on this occasion the soldiers, Cossacks
+and the rest, did not put in an appearance at the great market.
+Doubtless, a sudden order to move having been foreseen, they were
+restricted to their barracks.
+
+Moreover, while no soldiers were to be seen, it was not so with their
+officers. Since the evening before, aides-decamp, leaving the governor's
+palace, galloped in every direction. An unusual movement was going
+forward which a serious state of affairs could alone account for. There
+were innumerable couriers on the roads both to Wladimir and to the
+Ural Mountains. The exchange of telegraphic dispatches with Moscow was
+incessant.
+
+Michael Strogoff found himself in the central square when the report
+spread that the head of police had been summoned by a courier to the
+palace of the governor-general. An important dispatch from Moscow, it
+was said, was the cause of it.
+
+"The fair is to be closed," said one.
+
+"The regiment of Nijni-Novgorod has received the route," declared
+another.
+
+"They say that the Tartars menace Tomsk!"
+
+"Here is the head of police!" was shouted on every side. A loud clapping
+of hands was suddenly raised, which subsided by degrees, and finally was
+succeeded by absolute silence. The head of police arrived in the middle
+of the central square, and it was seen by all that he held in his hand a
+dispatch.
+
+Then, in a loud voice, he read the following announcements: "By order of
+the Governor of Nijni-Novgorod.
+
+"1st. All Russian subjects are forbidden to quit the province upon any
+pretext whatsoever.
+
+"2nd. All strangers of Asiatic origin are commanded to leave the
+province within twenty-four hours."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI BROTHER AND SISTER
+
+HOWEVER disastrous these measures might be to private interests, they
+were, under the circumstances, perfectly justifiable.
+
+"All Russian subjects are forbidden to leave the province;" if Ivan
+Ogareff was still in the province, this would at any rate prevent him,
+unless with the greatest difficulty, from rejoining Feofar-Khan, and
+becoming a very formidable lieutenant to the Tartar chief.
+
+"All foreigners of Asiatic origin are ordered to leave the province in
+four-and-twenty hours;" this would send off in a body all the traders
+from Central Asia, as well as the bands of Bohemians, gipsies, etc.,
+having more or less sympathy with the Tartars. So many heads, so many
+spies--undoubtedly affairs required their expulsion.
+
+It is easy to understand the effect produced by these two thunder-claps
+bursting over a town like Nijni-Novgorod, so densely crowded with
+visitors, and with a commerce so greatly surpassing that of all other
+places in Russia. The natives whom business called beyond the Siberian
+frontier could not leave the province for a time at least. The tenor of
+the first article of the order was express; it admitted of no exception.
+All private interests must yield to the public weal. As to the second
+article of the proclamation, the order of expulsion which it contained
+admitted of no evasion either. It only concerned foreigners of Asiatic
+origin, but these could do nothing but pack up their merchandise and
+go back the way they came. As to the mountebanks, of which there were a
+considerable number, they had nearly a thousand versts to go before they
+could reach the nearest frontier. For them it was simply misery.
+
+At first there rose against this unusual measure a murmur of
+protestation, a cry of despair, but this was quickly suppressed by the
+presence of the Cossacks and agents of police. Immediately, what might
+be called the exodus from the immense plain began. The awnings in front
+of the stalls were folded up; the theaters were taken to pieces;
+the fires were put out; the acrobats' ropes were lowered; the old
+broken-winded horses of the traveling vans came back from their sheds.
+Agents and soldiers with whip or stick stimulated the tardy ones, and
+made nothing of pulling down the tents even before the poor Bohemians
+had left them.
+
+Under these energetic measures the square of Nijni-Novgorod would, it
+was evident, be entirely evacuated before the evening, and to the tumult
+of the great fair would succeed the silence of the desert.
+
+It must again be repeated--for it was a necessary aggravation of these
+severe measures--that to all those nomads chiefly concerned in the order
+of expulsion even the steppes of Siberia were forbidden, and they would
+be obliged to hasten to the south of the Caspian Sea, either to Persia,
+Turkey, or the plains of Turkestan. The post of the Ural, and the
+mountains which form, as it were, a prolongation of the river along the
+Russian frontier, they were not allowed to pass. They were therefore
+under the necessity of traveling six hundred miles before they could
+tread a free soil.
+
+Just as the reading of the proclamation by the head of the police
+came to an end, an idea darted instinctively into the mind of Michael
+Strogoff. "What a singular coincidence," thought he, "between this
+proclamation expelling all foreigners of Asiatic origin, and the words
+exchanged last evening between those two gipsies of the Zingari race.
+'The Father himself sends us where we wish to go,' that old man said.
+But 'the Father' is the emperor! He is never called anything else among
+the people. How could those gipsies have foreseen the measure taken
+against them? how could they have known it beforehand, and where do they
+wish to go? Those are suspicious people, and it seems to me that to them
+the government proclamation must be more useful than injurious."
+
+But these reflections were completely dispelled by another which drove
+every other thought out of Michael's mind. He forgot the Zingaris,
+their suspicious words, the strange coincidence which resulted from the
+proclamation. The remembrance of the young Livonian girl suddenly rushed
+into his mind. "Poor child!" he thought to himself. "She cannot now
+cross the frontier."
+
+In truth the young girl was from Riga; she was Livonian, consequently
+Russian, and now could not leave Russian territory! The permit which
+had been given her before the new measures had been promulgated was no
+longer available. All the routes to Siberia had just been pitilessly
+closed to her, and, whatever the motive taking her to Irkutsk, she was
+now forbidden to go there.
+
+This thought greatly occupied Michael Strogoff. He said to himself,
+vaguely at first, that, without neglecting anything of what was due to
+his important mission, it would perhaps be possible for him to be of
+some use to this brave girl; and this idea pleased him. Knowing how
+serious were the dangers which he, an energetic and vigorous man, would
+have personally to encounter, he could not conceal from himself how
+infinitely greater they would prove to a young unprotected girl. As she
+was going to Irkutsk, she would be obliged to follow the same road as
+himself, she would have to pass through the bands of invaders, as he was
+about to attempt doing himself. If, moreover, she had at her
+disposal only the money necessary for a journey taken under ordinary
+circumstances, how could she manage to accomplish it under conditions
+which made it not only perilous but expensive?
+
+"Well," said he, "if she takes the route to Perm, it is nearly
+impossible but that I shall fall in with her. Then, I will watch over
+her without her suspecting it; and as she appears to me as anxious as
+myself to reach Irkutsk, she will cause me no delay."
+
+But one thought leads to another. Michael Strogoff had till now thought
+only of doing a kind action; but now another idea flashed into his
+brain; the question presented itself under quite a new aspect.
+
+"The fact is," said he to himself, "that I have much more need of her
+than she can have of me. Her presence will be useful in drawing off
+suspicion from me. A man traveling alone across the steppe, may be
+easily guessed to be a courier of the Czar. If, on the contrary, this
+young girl accompanies me, I shall appear, in the eyes of all, the
+Nicholas Korpanoff of my podorojna. Therefore, she must accompany me.
+Therefore, I must find her again at any cost. It is not probable that
+since yesterday evening she has been able to get a carriage and leave
+Nijni-Novgorod. I must look for her. And may God guide me!"
+
+Michael left the great square of Nijni-Novgorod, where the tumult
+produced by the carrying out of the prescribed measures had now reached
+its height. Recriminations from the banished strangers, shouts from the
+agents and Cossacks who were using them so brutally, together made an
+indescribable uproar. The girl for whom he searched could not be there.
+It was now nine o'clock in the morning. The steamboat did not start till
+twelve. Michael Strogoff had therefore nearly two hours to employ in
+searching for her whom he wished to make his traveling companion.
+
+He crossed the Volga again and hunted through the quarters on the
+other side, where the crowd was much less considerable. He entered
+the churches, the natural refuge for all who weep, for all who suffer.
+Nowhere did he meet with the young Livonian.
+
+"And yet," he repeated, "she could not have left Nijni-Novgorod yet.
+We'll have another look." He wandered about thus for two hours. He went
+on without stopping, feeling no fatigue, obeying a potent instinct which
+allowed no room for thought. All was in vain.
+
+It then occurred to him that perhaps the girl had not heard of the
+order--though this was improbable enough, for such a thunder-clap could
+not have burst without being heard by all. Evidently interested in
+knowing the smallest news from Siberia, how could she be ignorant of
+the measures taken by the governor, measures which concerned her so
+directly?
+
+But, if she was ignorant of it, she would come in an hour to the quay,
+and there some merciless agent would refuse her a passage! At any cost,
+he must see her beforehand, and enable her to avoid such a repulse.
+
+But all his endeavors were in vain, and he at length almost despaired
+of finding her again. It was eleven o'clock, and Michael thought of
+presenting his podorojna at the office of the head of police. The
+proclamation evidently did not concern him, since the emergency had been
+foreseen for him, but he wished to make sure that nothing would hinder
+his departure from the town.
+
+Michael then returned to the other side of the Volga, to the quarter
+in which was the office of the head of police. An immense crowd was
+collected there; for though all foreigners were ordered to quit the
+province, they had notwithstanding to go through certain forms before
+they could depart.
+
+Without this precaution, some Russian more or less implicated in
+the Tartar movement would have been able, in a disguise, to pass
+the frontier--just those whom the order wished to prevent going. The
+strangers were sent away, but still had to gain permission to go.
+
+Mountebanks, gypsies, Tsiganes, Zingaris, mingled with merchants from
+Persia, Turkey, India, Turkestan, China, filled the court and offices of
+the police station.
+
+Everyone was in a hurry, for the means of transport would be much sought
+after among this crowd of banished people, and those who did not set
+about it soon ran a great risk of not being able to leave the town in
+the prescribed time, which would expose them to some brutal treatment
+from the governor's agents.
+
+Owing to the strength of his elbows Michael was able to cross the court.
+But to get into the office and up to the clerk's little window was a
+much more difficult business. However, a word into an inspector's ear
+and a few judiciously given roubles were powerful enough to gain him a
+passage. The man, after taking him into the waiting-room, went to call
+an upper clerk. Michael Strogoff would not be long in making everything
+right with the police and being free in his movements.
+
+Whilst waiting, he looked about him, and what did he see? There, fallen,
+rather than seated, on a bench, was a girl, prey to a silent despair,
+although her face could scarcely be seen, the profile alone being
+visible against the wall. Michael Strogoff could not be mistaken. He
+instantly recognized the young Livonian.
+
+Not knowing the governor's orders, she had come to the police office
+to get her pass signed. They had refused to sign it. No doubt she was
+authorized to go to Irkutsk, but the order was peremptory--it annulled
+all previous au-thorizations, and the routes to Siberia were closed to
+her. Michael, delighted at having found her again, approached the girl.
+
+She looked up for a moment and her face brightened on recognizing her
+traveling companion. She instinctively rose and, like a drowning man who
+clutches at a spar, she was about to ask his help.
+
+At that moment the agent touched Michael on the shoulder, "The head of
+police will see you," he said.
+
+"Good," returned Michael. And without saying a word to her for whom he
+had been searching all day, without reassuring her by even a gesture,
+which might compromise either her or himself, he followed the man.
+
+The young Livonian, seeing the only being to whom she could look for
+help disappear, fell back again on her bench.
+
+Three minutes had not passed before Michael Strogoff reappeared,
+accompanied by the agent. In his hand he held his podorojna, which
+threw open the roads to Siberia for him. He again approached the young
+Livonian, and holding out his hand: "Sister," said he.
+
+She understood. She rose as if some sudden inspiration prevented her
+from hesitating a moment.
+
+"Sister," repeated Michael Strogoff, "we are authorized to continue our
+journey to Irkutsk. Will you come with me?"
+
+"I will follow you, brother," replied the girl, putting her hand into
+that of Michael Strogoff. And together they left the police station.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII GOING DOWN THE VOLGA
+
+A LITTLE before midday, the steamboat's bell drew to the wharf on the
+Volga an unusually large concourse of people, for not only were those
+about to embark who had intended to go, but the many who were compelled
+to go contrary to their wishes. The boilers of the Caucasus were under
+full pressure; a slight smoke issued from its funnel, whilst the end
+of the escape-pipe and the lids of the valves were crowned with white
+vapor. It is needless to say that the police kept a close watch over
+the departure of the Caucasus, and showed themselves pitiless to those
+travelers who did not satisfactorily answer their questions.
+
+Numerous Cossacks came and went on the quay, ready to assist the agents,
+but they had not to interfere, as no one ventured to offer the slightest
+resistance to their orders. Exactly at the hour the last clang of the
+bell sounded, the powerful wheels of the steamboat began to beat the
+water, and the Caucasus passed rapidly between the two towns of which
+Nijni-Novgorod is composed.
+
+Michael Strogoff and the young Livonian had taken a passage on board
+the Caucasus. Their embarkation was made without any difficulty. As
+is known, the podorojna, drawn up in the name of Nicholas Korpanoff,
+authorized this merchant to be accompanied on his journey to Siberia.
+They appeared, therefore, to be a brother and sister traveling under the
+protection of the imperial police. Both, seated together at the stern,
+gazed at the receding town, so disturbed by the governor's order.
+Michael had as yet said nothing to the girl, he had not even questioned
+her. He waited until she should speak to him, when that was necessary.
+She had been anxious to leave that town, in which, but for the
+providential intervention of this unexpected protector, she would have
+remained imprisoned. She said nothing, but her looks spoke her thanks.
+
+The Volga, the Rha of the ancients, the largest river in all Europe, is
+almost three thousand miles in length. Its waters, rather unwholesome
+in its upper part, are improved at Nijni-Novgorod by those of the Oka, a
+rapid affluent, issuing from the central provinces of Russia. The system
+of Russian canals and rivers has been justly compared to a gigantic tree
+whose branches spread over every part of the empire. The Volga forms the
+trunk of this tree, and it has for roots seventy mouths opening into the
+Caspian Sea. It is navigable as far as Rjef, a town in the government of
+Tver, that is, along the greater part of its course.
+
+The steamboats plying between Perm and Nijni-Novgorod rapidly perform
+the two hundred and fifty miles which separate this town from the town
+of Kasan. It is true that these boats have only to descend the Volga,
+which adds nearly two miles of current per hour to their own speed; but
+on arriving at the confluence of the Kama, a little below Kasan, they
+are obliged to quit the Volga for the smaller river, up which they
+ascend to Perm. Powerful as were her machines, the Caucasus could not
+thus, after entering the Kama, make against the current more than ten
+miles an hour. Including an hour's stoppage at Kasan, the voyage from
+Nijni-Novgorod to Perm would take from between sixty to sixty-two hours.
+
+The steamer was very well arranged, and the passengers, according to
+their condition or resources, occupied three distinct classes on board.
+Michael Strogoff had taken care to engage two first-class cabins, so
+that his young companion might retire into hers whenever she liked.
+
+The Caucasus was loaded with passengers of every description. A
+number of Asiatic traders had thought it best to leave Nijni-Novgorod
+immediately. In that part of the steamer reserved for the first-class
+might be seen Armenians in long robes and a sort of miter on their
+heads; Jews, known by their conical caps; rich Chinese in their
+traditional costume, a very wide blue, violet, or black robe; Turks,
+wearing the national turban; Hindoos, with square caps, and a simple
+string for a girdle, some of whom, hold in their hands all the traffic
+of Central Asia; and, lastly, Tartars, wearing boots, ornamented with
+many-colored braid, and the breast a mass of embroidery. All these
+merchants had been obliged to pile up their numerous bales and chests in
+the hold and on the deck; and the transport of their baggage would cost
+them dear, for, according to the regulations, each person had only a
+right to twenty pounds' weight.
+
+In the bows of the Caucasus were more numerous groups of passengers, not
+only foreigners, but also Russians, who were not forbidden by the order
+to go back to their towns in the province. There were mujiks with caps
+on their heads, and wearing checked shirts under their wide pelisses;
+peasants of the Volga, with blue trousers stuffed into their boots,
+rose-colored cotton shirts, drawn in by a cord, felt caps; a few women,
+habited in flowery-patterned cotton dresses, gay-colored aprons, and
+bright handkerchiefs on their heads. These were principally third-class
+passengers, who were, happily, not troubled by the prospect of a long
+return voyage. The Caucasus passed numerous boats being towed up the
+stream, carrying all sorts of merchandise to Nijni-Novgorod. Then passed
+rafts of wood interminably long, and barges loaded to the gunwale, and
+nearly sinking under water. A bootless voyage they were making, since
+the fair had been abruptly broken up at its outset.
+
+The waves caused by the steamer splashed on the banks, covered with
+flocks of wild duck, who flew away uttering deafening cries. A little
+farther, on the dry fields, bordered with willows, and aspens, were
+scattered a few cows, sheep, and herds of pigs. Fields, sown with thin
+buckwheat and rye, stretched away to a background of half-cultivated
+hills, offering no remarkable prospect. The pencil of an artist in
+quest of the picturesque would have found nothing to reproduce in this
+monotonous landscape.
+
+The Caucasus had been steaming on for almost two hours, when the
+young Livonian, addressing herself to Michael, said, "Are you going to
+Irkutsk, brother?"
+
+"Yes, sister," answered the young man. "We are going the same way.
+Consequently, where I go, you shall go."
+
+"To-morrow, brother, you shall know why I left the shores of the Baltic
+to go beyond the Ural Mountains."
+
+"I ask you nothing, sister."
+
+"You shall know all," replied the girl, with a faint smile. "A sister
+should hide nothing from her brother. But I cannot to-day. Fatigue and
+sorrow have broken me."
+
+"Will you go and rest in your cabin?" asked Michael Strogoff.
+
+"Yes--yes; and to-morrow--"
+
+"Come then--"
+
+He hesitated to finish his sentence, as if he had wished to end it by
+the name of his companion, of which he was still ignorant.
+
+"Nadia," said she, holding out her hand.
+
+"Come, Nadia," answered Michael, "and make what use you like of your
+brother Nicholas Korpanoff." And he led the girl to the cabin engaged
+for her off the saloon.
+
+Michael Strogoff returned on deck, and eager for any news which might
+bear on his journey, he mingled in the groups of passengers, though
+without taking any part in the conversation. Should he by any chance
+be questioned, and obliged to reply, he would announce himself as the
+merchant Nicholas Korpanoff, going back to the frontier, for he did
+not wish it to be suspected that a special permission authorized him to
+travel to Siberia.
+
+The foreigners in the steamer could evidently speak of nothing but the
+occurrences of the day, of the order and its consequences. These poor
+people, scarcely recovered from the fatigue of a journey across Central
+Asia, found themselves obliged to return, and if they did not give loud
+vent to their anger and despair, it was because they dared not. Fear,
+mingled with respect, restrained them. It was possible that inspectors
+of police, charged with watching the passengers, had secretly embarked
+on board the Caucasus, and it was just as well to keep silence;
+expulsion, after all, was a good deal preferable to imprisonment in a
+fortress. Therefore the men were either silent, or spoke with so much
+caution that it was scarcely possible to get any useful information.
+
+Michael Strogoff thus could learn nothing here; but if mouths were often
+shut at his approach--for they did not know him--his ears were soon
+struck by the sound of one voice, which cared little whether it was
+heard or not.
+
+The man with the hearty voice spoke Russian, but with a French accent;
+and another speaker answered him more reservedly. "What," said the
+first, "are you on board this boat, too, my dear fellow; you whom I
+met at the imperial fete in Moscow, and just caught a glimpse of at
+Nijni-Novgorod?"
+
+"Yes, it's I," answered the second drily.
+
+"Really, I didn't expect to be so closely followed."
+
+"I am not following you sir; I am preceding you."
+
+"Precede! precede! Let us march abreast, keeping step, like two soldiers
+on parade, and for the time, at least, let us agree, if you will, that
+one shall not pass the other."
+
+"On the contrary, I shall pass you."
+
+"We shall see that, when we are at the seat of war; but till then,
+why, let us be traveling companions. Later, we shall have both time and
+occasion to be rivals."
+
+"Enemies."
+
+"Enemies, if you like. There is a precision in your words, my dear
+fellow, particularly agreeable to me. One may always know what one has
+to look for, with you."
+
+"What is the harm?"
+
+"No harm at all. So, in my turn, I will ask your permission to state our
+respective situations."
+
+"State away."
+
+"You are going to Perm--like me?"
+
+"Like you."
+
+"And probably you will go from Perm to Ekaterenburg, since that is the
+best and safest route by which to cross the Ural Mountains?"
+
+"Probably."
+
+"Once past the frontier, we shall be in Siberia, that is to say in the
+midst of the invasion."
+
+"We shall be there."
+
+"Well! then, and only then, will be the time to say, Each for himself,
+and God for--"
+
+"For me."
+
+"For you, all by yourself! Very well! But since we have a week of
+neutral days before us, and since it is very certain that news will not
+shower down upon us on the way, let us be friends until we become rivals
+again."
+
+"Enemies."
+
+"Yes; that's right, enemies. But till then, let us act together, and not
+try and ruin each other. All the same, I promise you to keep to myself
+all that I can see--"
+
+"And I, all that I can hear."
+
+"Is that agreed?"
+
+"It is agreed."
+
+"Your hand?"
+
+"Here it is." And the hand of the first speaker, that is to say, five
+wide-open fingers, vigorously shook the two fingers coolly extended by
+the other.
+
+"By the bye," said the first, "I was able this morning to telegraph the
+very words of the order to my cousin at seventeen minutes past ten."
+
+"And I sent it to the Daily Telegraph at thirteen minutes past ten."
+
+"Bravo, Mr. Blount!"
+
+"Very good, M. Jolivet."
+
+"I will try and match that!"
+
+"It will be difficult."
+
+"I can try, however."
+
+So saying, the French correspondent familiarly saluted the Englishman,
+who bowed stiffly. The governor's proclamation did not concern these two
+news-hunters, as they were neither Russians nor foreigners of Asiatic
+origin. However, being urged by the same instinct, they had left
+Nijni-Novgorod together. It was natural that they should take the same
+means of transport, and that they should follow the same route to the
+Siberian steppes. Traveling companions, whether enemies or friends, they
+had a week to pass together before "the hunt would be open." And then
+success to the most expert! Alcide Jolivet had made the first advances,
+and Harry Blount had accepted them though he had done so coldly.
+
+That very day at dinner the Frenchman open as ever and even too
+loquacious, the Englishman still silent and grave, were seen hobnobbing
+at the same table, drinking genuine Cliquot, at six roubles the bottle,
+made from the fresh sap of the birch-trees of the country. On hearing
+them chatting away together, Michael Strogoff said to himself: "Those
+are inquisitive and indiscreet fellows whom I shall probably meet again
+on the way. It will be prudent for me to keep them at a distance."
+
+The young Livonian did not come to dinner. She was asleep in her cabin,
+and Michael did not like to awaken her. It was evening before she
+reappeared on the deck of the Caucasus. The long twilight imparted a
+coolness to the atmosphere eagerly enjoyed by the passengers after the
+stifling heat of the day. As the evening advanced, the greater number
+never even thought of going into the saloon. Stretched on the benches,
+they inhaled with delight the slight breeze caused by the speed of the
+steamer. At this time of year, and under this latitude, the sky scarcely
+darkened between sunset and dawn, and left the steersman light enough to
+guide his steamer among the numerous vessels going up or down the Volga.
+
+Between eleven and two, however, the moon being new, it was almost dark.
+Nearly all the passengers were then asleep on the deck, and the silence
+was disturbed only by the noise of the paddles striking the water at
+regular intervals. Anxiety kept Michael Strogoff awake. He walked up and
+down, but always in the stern of the steamer. Once, however, he happened
+to pass the engine-room. He then found himself in the part reserved for
+second and third-class passengers.
+
+There, everyone was lying asleep, not only on the benches, but also on
+the bales, packages, and even the deck itself. Some care was necessary
+not to tread on the sleepers, who were lying about everywhere. They were
+chiefly mujiks, accustomed to hard couches, and quite satisfied with the
+planks of the deck. But no doubt they would, all the same, have soundly
+abused the clumsy fellow who roused them with an accidental kick.
+
+Michael Strogoff took care, therefore, not to disturb anyone. By going
+thus to the end of the boat, he had no other idea but that of striving
+against sleep by a rather longer walk. He reached the forward deck,
+and was already climbing the forecastle ladder, when he heard someone
+speaking near him. He stopped. The voices appeared to come from a
+group of passengers enveloped in cloaks and wraps. It was impossible to
+recognize them in the dark, though it sometimes happened that, when the
+steamer's chimney sent forth a plume of ruddy flames, the sparks seemed
+to fall amongst the group as though thousands of spangles had been
+suddenly illuminated.
+
+Michael was about to step up the ladder, when a few words reached his
+ear, uttered in that strange tongue which he had heard during the night
+at the fair. Instinctively he stopped to listen. Protected by the shadow
+of the forecastle, he could not be perceived himself. As to seeing
+the passengers who were talking, that was impossible. He must confine
+himself to listening.
+
+The first words exchanged were of no importance--to him at least--but
+they allowed him to recognize the voices of the man and woman whom he
+had heard at Nijni-Novgorod. This, of course, made him redouble his
+attention. It was, indeed, not at all impossible that these same
+Tsiganes, now banished, should be on board the Caucasus.
+
+And it was well for him that he listened, for he distinctly heard this
+question and answer made in the Tartar idiom: "It is said that a courier
+has set out from Moscow for Irkutsk."
+
+"It is so said, Sangarre; but either this courier will arrive too late,
+or he will not arrive at all."
+
+Michael Strogoff started involuntarily at this reply, which concerned
+him so directly. He tried to see if the man and woman who had just
+spoken were really those whom he suspected, but he could not succeed.
+
+In a few moments Michael Strogoff had regained the stern of the vessel
+without having been perceived, and, taking a seat by himself, he buried
+his face in his hands. It might have been supposed that he was asleep.
+
+He was not asleep, however, and did not even think of sleeping. He was
+reflecting, not without a lively apprehension: "Who is it knows of my
+departure, and who can have any interest in knowing it?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII GOING UP THE KAMA
+
+THE next day, the 18th of July, at twenty minutes to seven in the
+morning, the Caucasus reached the Kasan quay, seven versts from the
+town.
+
+Kasan is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Kasanka. It is an
+important chief town of the government, and a Greek archbishopric, as
+well as the seat of a university. The varied population preserves an
+Asiatic character. Although the town was so far from the landing-place,
+a large crowd was collected on the quay. They had come for news. The
+governor of the province had published an order identical with that of
+Nijni-Novgorod. Police officers and a few Cossacks kept order among the
+crowd, and cleared the way both for the passengers who were disembarking
+and also for those who were embarking on board the Caucasus, minutely
+examining both classes of travelers. The one were the Asiatics who were
+being expelled; the other, mujiks stopping at Kasan.
+
+Michael Strogoff unconcernedly watched the bustle which occurs at all
+quays on the arrival of a steam vessel. The Caucasus would stay for an
+hour to renew her fuel. Michael did not even think of landing. He was
+unwilling to leave the young Livonian girl alone on board, as she had
+not yet reappeared on deck.
+
+The two journalists had risen at dawn, as all good huntsmen should do.
+They went on shore and mingled with the crowd, each keeping to his own
+peculiar mode of proceeding; Harry Blount, sketching different types, or
+noting some observation; Alcide Jolivet contenting himself with asking
+questions, confiding in his memory, which never failed him.
+
+There was a report along all the frontier that the insurrection and
+invasion had reached considerable proportions. Communication between
+Siberia and the empire was already extremely difficult. All this Michael
+Strogoff heard from the new arrivals. This information could not but
+cause him great uneasiness, and increase his wish of being beyond the
+Ural Mountains, so as to judge for himself of the truth of these
+rumors, and enable him to guard against any possible contingency. He was
+thinking of seeking more direct intelligence from some native of Kasan,
+when his attention was suddenly diverted.
+
+Among the passengers who were leaving the Caucasus, Michael recognized
+the troop of Tsiganes who, the day before, had appeared in the
+Nijni-Novgorod fair. There, on the deck of the steamboat were the old
+Bohemian and the woman. With them, and no doubt under their direction,
+landed about twenty dancers and singers, from fifteen to twenty years of
+age, wrapped in old cloaks, which covered their spangled dresses. These
+dresses, just then glancing in the first rays of the sun, reminded
+Michael of the curious appearance which he had observed during the
+night. It must have been the glitter of those spangles in the bright
+flames issuing from the steamboat's funnel which had attracted his
+attention.
+
+"Evidently," said Michael to himself, "this troop of Tsiganes, after
+remaining below all day, crouched under the forecastle during the night.
+Were these gipsies trying to show themselves as little as possible? Such
+is not according to the usual custom of their race."
+
+Michael Strogoff no longer doubted that the expressions he had heard,
+had proceeded from this tawny group, and had been exchanged between the
+old gypsy and the woman to whom he gave the Mongolian name of Sangarre.
+Michael involuntarily moved towards the gangway, as the Bohemian troop
+was leaving the steamboat.
+
+The old Bohemian was there, in a humble attitude, little conformable
+with the effrontery natural to his race. One would have said that he was
+endeavoring rather to avoid attention than to attract it. His battered
+hat, browned by the suns of every clime, was pulled forward over his
+wrinkled face. His arched back was bent under an old cloak, wrapped
+closely round him, notwithstanding the heat. It would have been
+difficult, in this miserable dress, to judge of either his size or face.
+Near him was the Tsigane, Sangarre, a woman about thirty years old. She
+was tall and well made, with olive complexion, magnificent eyes, and
+golden hair.
+
+Many of the young dancers were remarkably pretty, all possessing the
+clear-cut features of their race. These Tsiganes are generally very
+attractive, and more than one of the great Russian nobles, who try to
+vie with the English in eccentricity, has not hesitated to choose his
+wife from among these gypsy girls. One of them was humming a song of
+strange rhythm, which might be thus rendered:
+
+          "Glitters brightly the gold
+              In my raven locks streaming
+           Rich coral around
+              My graceful neck gleaming;
+           Like a bird of the air,
+              Through the wide world I roam."
+
+The laughing girl continued her song, but Michael Strogoff ceased
+to listen. It struck him just then that the Tsigane, Sangarre, was
+regarding him with a peculiar gaze, as if to fix his features indelibly
+in her memory.
+
+It was but for a few moments, when Sangarre herself followed the old man
+and his troop, who had already left the vessel. "That's a bold gypsy,"
+said Michael to himself. "Could she have recognized me as the man whom
+she saw at Nijni-Novgorod? These confounded Tsiganes have the eyes of a
+cat! They can see in the dark; and that woman there might well know--"
+
+Michael Strogoff was on the point of following Sangarre and the gypsy
+band, but he stopped. "No," thought he, "no unguarded proceedings. If
+I were to stop that old fortune teller and his companions my incognito
+would run a risk of being discovered. Besides, now they have landed,
+before they can pass the frontier I shall be far beyond it. They may
+take the route from Kasan to Ishim, but that affords no resources to
+travelers. Besides a tarantass, drawn by good Siberian horses, will
+always go faster than a gypsy cart! Come, friend Korpanoff, be easy."
+
+By this time the man and Sangarre had disappeared.
+
+Kasan is justly called the "Gate of Asia" and considered as the center
+of Siberian and Bokharian commerce; for two roads begin here and lead
+across the Ural Mountains. Michael Strogoff had very judiciously chosen
+the one by Perm and Ekaterenburg. It is the great stage road, well
+supplied with relays kept at the expense of the government, and is
+prolonged from Ishim to Irkutsk.
+
+It is true that a second route--the one of which Michael had just
+spoken--avoiding the slight detour by Perm, also connects Kasan with
+Ishim. It is perhaps shorter than the other, but this advantage is much
+diminished by the absence of post-houses, the bad roads, and lack of
+villages. Michael Strogoff was right in the choice he had made, and if,
+as appeared probable, the gipsies should follow the second route from
+Kasan to Ishim, he had every chance of arriving before them.
+
+An hour afterwards the bell rang on board the Caucasus, calling the new
+passengers, and recalling the former ones. It was now seven o'clock in
+the morning. The requisite fuel had been received on board. The whole
+vessel began to vibrate from the effects of the steam. She was ready to
+start. Passengers going from Kasan to Perm were crowding on the deck.
+
+Michael noticed that of the two reporters Blount alone had rejoined the
+steamer. Was Alcide Jolivet about to miss his passage?
+
+But just as the ropes were being cast off, Jolivet appeared, tearing
+along. The steamer was already sheering off, the gangway had been drawn
+onto the quay, but Alcide Jolivet would not stick at such a little thing
+as that, so, with a bound like a harlequin, he alighted on the deck of
+the Caucasus almost in his rival's arms.
+
+"I thought the Caucasus was going without you," said the latter.
+
+"Bah!" answered Jolivet, "I should soon have caught you up again, by
+chartering a boat at my cousin's expense, or by traveling post at twenty
+copecks a verst, and on horseback. What could I do? It was so long a way
+from the quay to the telegraph office."
+
+"Have you been to the telegraph office?" asked Harry Blount, biting his
+lips.
+
+"That's exactly where I have been!" answered Jolivet, with his most
+amiable smile.
+
+"And is it still working to Kolyvan?"
+
+"That I don't know, but I can assure you, for instance, that it is
+working from Kasan to Paris."
+
+"You sent a dispatch to your cousin?"
+
+"With enthusiasm."
+
+"You had learnt then--?"
+
+"Look here, little father, as the Russians say," replied Alcide Jolivet,
+"I'm a good fellow, and I don't wish to keep anything from you. The
+Tartars, and Feofar-Khan at their head, have passed Semipolatinsk, and
+are descending the Irtish. Do what you like with that!"
+
+What! such important news, and Harry Blount had not known it; and his
+rival, who had probably learned it from some inhabitant of Kasan, had
+already transmitted it to Paris. The English paper was distanced! Harry
+Blount, crossing his hands behind him, walked off and seated himself in
+the stern without uttering a word.
+
+About ten o'clock in the morning, the young Livonian, leaving her cabin,
+appeared on deck. Michael Strogoff went forward and took her hand.
+"Look, sister!" said he, leading her to the bows of the Caucasus.
+
+The view was indeed well worth seeing. The Caucasus had reached the
+confluence of the Volga and the Kama. There she would leave the former
+river, after having descended it for nearly three hundred miles, to
+ascend the latter for a full three hundred.
+
+The Kama was here very wide, and its wooded banks lovely. A few white
+sails enlivened the sparkling water. The horizon was closed by a line of
+hills covered with aspens, alders, and sometimes large oaks.
+
+But these beauties of nature could not distract the thoughts of the
+young Livonian even for an instant. She had left her hand in that of her
+companion, and turning to him, "At what distance are we from Moscow?"
+she asked.
+
+"Nine hundred versts," answered Michael.
+
+"Nine hundred, out of seven thousand!" murmured the girl.
+
+The bell now announced the breakfast hour. Nadia followed Michael
+Strogoff to the restaurant. She ate little, and as a poor girl whose
+means are small would do. Michael thought it best to content himself
+with the fare which satisfied his companion; and in less than twenty
+minutes he and Nadia returned on deck. There they seated themselves in
+the stern, and without preamble, Nadia, lowering her voice to be heard
+by him alone, began:
+
+"Brother, I am the daughter of an exile. My name is Nadia Fedor. My
+mother died at Riga scarcely a month ago, and I am going to Irkutsk to
+rejoin my father and share his exile."
+
+"I, too, am going to Irkutsk," answered Michael, "and I shall thank
+Heaven if it enables me to give Nadia Fedor safe and sound into her
+father's hands."
+
+"Thank you, brother," replied Nadia.
+
+Michael Strogoff then added that he had obtained a special podorojna
+for Siberia, and that the Russian authorities could in no way hinder his
+progress.
+
+Nadia asked nothing more. She saw in this fortunate meeting with Michael
+a means only of accelerating her journey to her father.
+
+"I had," said she, "a permit which authorized me to go to Irkutsk, but
+the new order annulled that; and but for you, brother, I should have
+been unable to leave the town, in which, without doubt, I should have
+perished."
+
+"And dared you, alone, Nadia," said Michael, "attempt to cross the
+steppes of Siberia?"
+
+"The Tartar invasion was not known when I left Riga. It was only at
+Moscow that I learnt the news."
+
+"And despite it, you continued your journey?"
+
+"It was my duty."
+
+The words showed the character of the brave girl.
+
+She then spoke of her father, Wassili Fedor. He was a much-esteemed
+physician at Riga. But his connection with some secret society having
+been asserted, he received orders to start for Irkutsk. The police who
+brought the order conducted him without delay beyond the frontier.
+
+Wassili Fedor had but time to embrace his sick wife and his daughter, so
+soon to be left alone, when, shedding bitter tears, he was led away. A
+year and a half after her husband's departure, Madame Fedor died in
+the arms of her daughter, who was thus left alone and almost penniless.
+Nadia Fedor then asked, and easily obtained from the Russian government,
+an authorization to join her father at Irkutsk. She wrote and told him
+she was starting. She had barely enough money for this long journey, and
+yet she did not hesitate to undertake it. She would do what she could.
+God would do the rest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX DAY AND NIGHT IN A TARANTASS
+
+THE next day, the 19th of July, the Caucasus reached Perm, the last
+place at which she touched on the Kama.
+
+The government of which Perm is the capital is one of the largest in the
+Russian Empire, and, extending over the Ural Mountains, encroaches on
+Siberian territory. Marble quarries, mines of salt, platina, gold, and
+coal are worked here on a large scale. Although Perm, by its situation,
+has become an important town, it is by no means attractive, being
+extremely dirty, and without resources. This want of comfort is of
+no consequence to those going to Siberia, for they come from the more
+civilized districts, and are supplied with all necessaries.
+
+At Perm travelers from Siberia resell their vehicles, more or less
+damaged by the long journey across the plains. There, too, those passing
+from Europe to Asia purchase carriages, or sleighs in the winter season.
+
+Michael Strogoff had already sketched out his programme. A vehicle
+carrying the mail usually runs across the Ural Mountains, but this, of
+course, was discontinued. Even if it had not been so, he would not have
+taken it, as he wished to travel as fast as possible, without depending
+on anyone. He wisely preferred to buy a carriage, and journey by stages,
+stimulating the zeal of the postillions by well-applied "na vodkou," or
+tips.
+
+Unfortunately, in consequence of the measures taken against foreigners
+of Asiatic origin, a large number of travelers had already left Perm,
+and therefore conveyances were extremely rare. Michael was obliged to
+content himself with what had been rejected by others. As to horses,
+as long as the Czar's courier was not in Siberia, he could exhibit his
+podorojna, and the postmasters would give him the preference. But, once
+out of Europe, he had to depend alone on the power of his roubles.
+
+But to what sort of a vehicle should he harness his horses? To a telga
+or to a tarantass? The telga is nothing but an open four-wheeled cart,
+made entirely of wood, the pieces fastened together by means of
+strong rope. Nothing could be more primitive, nothing could be less
+comfortable; but, on the other hand, should any accident happen on the
+way, nothing could be more easily repaired. There is no want of firs on
+the Russian frontier, and axle-trees grow naturally in forests. The post
+extraordinary, known by the name of "perck-ladnoi," is carried by the
+telga, as any road is good enough for it. It must be confessed that
+sometimes the ropes which fasten the concern together break, and whilst
+the hinder part remains stuck in some bog, the fore-part arrives at
+the post-house on two wheels; but this result is considered quite
+satisfactory.
+
+Michael Strogoff would have been obliged to employ a telga, if he had
+not been lucky enough to discover a tarantass. It is to be hoped that
+the invention of Russian coach-builders will devise some improvement
+in this last-named vehicle. Springs are wanting in it as well as in the
+telga; in the absence of iron, wood is not spared; but its four wheels,
+with eight or nine feet between them, assure a certain equilibrium over
+the jolting rough roads. A splash-board protects the travelers from
+the mud, and a strong leathern hood, which may be pulled quite over the
+occupiers, shelters them from the great heat and violent storms of the
+summer. The tarantass is as solid and as easy to repair as the telga,
+and is, moreover, less addicted to leaving its hinder part in the middle
+of the road.
+
+It was not without careful search that Michael managed to discover this
+tarantass, and there was probably not a second to be found in all Perm.
+He haggled long about the price, for form's sake, to act up to his part
+as Nicholas Korpanoff, a plain merchant of Irkutsk.
+
+Nadia had followed her companion in his search after a suitable vehicle.
+Although the object of each was different, both were equally anxious to
+arrive at their goal. One would have said the same will animated them
+both.
+
+"Sister," said Michael, "I wish I could have found a more comfortable
+conveyance for you."
+
+"Do you say that to me, brother, when I would have gone on foot, if need
+were, to rejoin my father?"
+
+"I do not doubt your courage, Nadia, but there are physical fatigues a
+woman may be unable to endure."
+
+"I shall endure them, whatever they be," replied the girl. "If you ever
+hear a complaint from me you may leave me in the road, and continue your
+journey alone."
+
+Half an hour later, the podorojna being presented by Michael, three
+post-horses were harnessed to the tarantass. These animals, covered
+with long hair, were very like long-legged bears. They were small
+but spirited, being of Siberian breed. The way in which the iemschik
+harnessed them was thus: one, the largest, was secured between two long
+shafts, on whose farther end was a hoop carrying tassels and bells; the
+two others were simply fastened by ropes to the steps of the tarantass.
+This was the complete harness, with mere strings for reins.
+
+Neither Michael Strogoff nor the young Livonian girl had any baggage.
+The rapidity with which one wished to make the journey, and the more
+than modest resources of the other, prevented them from embarrassing
+themselves with packages. It was a fortunate thing, under the
+circumstances, for the tarantass could not have carried both baggage
+and travelers. It was only made for two persons, without counting the
+iemschik, who kept his equilibrium on his narrow seat in a marvelous
+manner.
+
+The iemschik is changed at every relay. The man who drove the tarantass
+during the first stage was, like his horses, a Siberian, and no less
+shaggy than they; long hair, cut square on the forehead, hat with a
+turned-up brim, red belt, coat with crossed facings and buttons stamped
+with the imperial cipher. The iemschik, on coming up with his team,
+threw an inquisitive glance at the passengers of the tarantass. No
+luggage!--and had there been, where in the world could he have stowed
+it? Rather shabby in appearance too. He looked contemptuous.
+
+"Crows," said he, without caring whether he was overheard or not;
+"crows, at six copecks a verst!"
+
+"No, eagles!" said Michael, who understood the iemschik's slang
+perfectly; "eagles, do you hear, at nine copecks a verst, and a tip
+besides."
+
+He was answered by a merry crack of the whip.
+
+In the language of the Russian postillions the "crow" is the stingy or
+poor traveler, who at the post-houses only pays two or three copecks
+a verst for the horses. The "eagle" is the traveler who does not mind
+expense, to say nothing of liberal tips. Therefore the crow could not
+claim to fly as rapidly as the imperial bird.
+
+Nadia and Michael immediately took their places in the tarantass. A
+small store of provisions was put in the box, in case at any time they
+were delayed in reaching the post-houses, which are very comfortably
+provided under direction of the State. The hood was pulled up, as it was
+insupport-ably hot, and at twelve o'clock the tarantass left Perm in a
+cloud of dust.
+
+The way in which the iemschik kept up the pace of his team would
+have certainly astonished travelers who, being neither Russians nor
+Siberians, were not accustomed to this sort of thing. The leader, rather
+larger than the others, kept to a steady long trot, perfectly regular,
+whether up or down hill. The two other horses seemed to know no other
+pace than the gallop, though they performed many an eccentric curvette
+as they went along. The iemschik, however, never touched them, only
+urging them on by startling cracks of his whip. But what epithets he
+lavished on them, including the names of all the saints in the calendar,
+when they behaved like docile and conscientious animals! The string
+which served as reins would have had no influence on the spirited
+beasts, but the words "na pravo," to the right, "na levo," to the left,
+pronounced in a guttural tone, were more effectual than either bridle or
+snaffle.
+
+And what amiable expressions! "Go on, my doves!" the iemschik would say.
+"Go on, pretty swallows! Fly, my little pigeons! Hold up, my cousin on
+the left! Gee up, my little father on the right!"
+
+But when the pace slackened, what insulting expressions, instantly
+understood by the sensitive animals! "Go on, you wretched snail!
+Confound you, you slug! I'll roast you alive, you tortoise, you!"
+
+Whether or not it was from this way of driving, which requires the
+iemschiks to possess strong throats more than muscular arms, the
+tarantass flew along at a rate of from twelve to fourteen miles an hour.
+Michael Strogoff was accustomed both to the sort of vehicle and the mode
+of traveling. Neither jerks nor jolts incommoded him. He knew that a
+Russian driver never even tries to avoid either stones, ruts, bogs,
+fallen trees, or trenches, which may happen to be in the road. He was
+used to all that. His companion ran a risk of being hurt by the violent
+jolts of the tarantass, but she would not complain.
+
+For a little while Nadia did not speak. Then possessed with the one
+thought, that of reaching her journey's end, "I have calculated that
+there are three hundred versts between Perm and Ekaterenburg, brother,"
+said she. "Am I right?"
+
+"You are quite right, Nadia," answered Michael; "and when we have
+reached Ekaterenburg, we shall be at the foot of the Ural Mountains on
+the opposite side."
+
+"How long will it take to get across the mountains?"
+
+"Forty-eight hours, for we shall travel day and night. I say day and
+night, Nadia," added he, "for I cannot stop even for a moment; I go on
+without rest to Irkutsk."
+
+"I shall not delay you, brother; no, not even for an hour, and we will
+travel day and night."
+
+"Well then, Nadia, if the Tartar invasion has only left the road open,
+we shall arrive in twenty days."
+
+"You have made this journey before?" asked Nadia.
+
+"Many times."
+
+"During winter we should have gone more rapidly and surely, should we
+not?"
+
+"Yes, especially with more rapidity, but you would have suffered much
+from the frost and snow."
+
+"What matter! Winter is the friend of Russia."
+
+"Yes, Nadia, but what a constitution anyone must have to endure such
+friendship! I have often seen the temperature in the Siberian steppes
+fall to more than forty degrees below freezing point! I have felt,
+notwithstanding my reindeer coat, my heart growing chill, my limbs
+stiffening, my feet freezing in triple woolen socks; I have seen my
+sleigh horses covered with a coating of ice, their breath congealed
+at their nostrils. I have seen the brandy in my flask change into hard
+stone, on which not even my knife could make an impression. But my
+sleigh flew like the wind. Not an obstacle on the plain, white and
+level farther than the eye could reach! No rivers to stop one! Hard
+ice everywhere, the route open, the road sure! But at the price of what
+suffering, Nadia, those alone could say, who have never returned, but
+whose bodies have been covered up by the snow storm."
+
+"However, you have returned, brother," said Nadia.
+
+"Yes, but I am a Siberian, and, when quite a child, I used to follow my
+father to the chase, and so became inured to these hardships. But when
+you said to me, Nadia, that winter would not have stopped you, that you
+would have gone alone, ready to struggle against the frightful Siberian
+climate, I seemed to see you lost in the snow and falling, never to rise
+again."
+
+"How many times have you crossed the steppe in winter?" asked the young
+Livonian.
+
+"Three times, Nadia, when I was going to Omsk."
+
+"And what were you going to do at Omsk?"
+
+"See my mother, who was expecting me."
+
+"And I am going to Irkutsk, where my father expects me. I am taking him
+my mother's last words. That is as much as to tell you, brother, that
+nothing would have prevented me from setting out."
+
+"You are a brave girl, Nadia," replied Michael. "God Himself would have
+led you."
+
+All day the tarantass was driven rapidly by the iemschiks, who succeeded
+each other at every stage. The eagles of the mountain would not have
+found their name dishonored by these "eagles" of the highway. The high
+price paid for each horse, and the tips dealt out so freely, recommended
+the travelers in a special way. Perhaps the postmasters thought it
+singular that, after the publication of the order, a young man and his
+sister, evidently both Russians, could travel freely across Siberia,
+which was closed to everyone else, but their papers were all en regle
+and they had the right to pass.
+
+However, Michael Strogoff and Nadia were not the only travelers on their
+way from Perm to Ekaterenburg. At the first stages, the courier of the
+Czar had learnt that a carriage preceded them, but, as there was no want
+of horses, he did not trouble himself about that.
+
+During the day, halts were made for food alone. At the post-houses could
+be found lodging and provision. Besides, if there was not an inn, the
+house of the Russian peasant would have been no less hospitable. In
+the villages, which are almost all alike, with their white-walled,
+green-roofed chapels, the traveler might knock at any door, and it would
+be opened to him. The moujik would come out, smiling and extending
+his hand to his guest. He would offer him bread and salt, the burning
+charcoal would be put into the "samovar," and he would be made quite at
+home. The family would turn out themselves rather than that he should
+not have room. The stranger is the relation of all. He is "one sent by
+God."
+
+On arriving that evening Michael instinctively asked the postmaster how
+many hours ago the carriage which preceded them had passed that stage.
+
+"Two hours ago, little father," replied the postmaster.
+
+"Is it a berlin?"
+
+"No, a telga."
+
+"How many travelers?"
+
+"Two."
+
+"And they are going fast?"
+
+"Eagles!"
+
+"Let them put the horses to as soon as possible."
+
+Michael and Nadia, resolved not to stop even for an hour, traveled all
+night. The weather continued fine, though the atmosphere was heavy and
+becoming charged with electricity. It was to be hoped that a storm would
+not burst whilst they were among the mountains, for there it would be
+terrible. Being accustomed to read atmospheric signs, Michael Strogoff
+knew that a struggle of the elements was approaching.
+
+The night passed without incident. Notwithstanding the jolting of the
+tarantass, Nadia was able to sleep for some hours. The hood was
+partly raised so as to give as much air as there was in the stifling
+atmosphere.
+
+Michael kept awake all night, mistrusting the iemschiks, who are apt to
+sleep at their posts. Not an hour was lost at the relays, not an hour on
+the road.
+
+The next day, the 20th of July, at about eight o'clock in the morning,
+they caught the first glimpse of the Ural Mountains in the east. This
+important chain which separates Russia from Siberia was still at a great
+distance, and they could not hope to reach it until the end of the day.
+The passage of the mountains must necessarily be performed during
+the next night. The sky was cloudy all day, and the temperature was
+therefore more bearable, but the weather was very threatening.
+
+It would perhaps have been more prudent not to have ascended the
+mountains during the night, and Michael would not have done so, had he
+been permitted to wait; but when, at the last stage, the iemschik drew
+his attention to a peal of thunder reverberating among the rocks, he
+merely said:
+
+"Is a telga still before us?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How long is it in advance?"
+
+"Nearly an hour."
+
+"Forward, and a triple tip if we are at Ekaterenburg to-morrow morning."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X A STORM IN THE URAL MOUNTAINS
+
+THE Ural Mountains extend in a length of over two thousand miles between
+Europe and Asia. Whether they are called the Urals, which is the Tartar,
+or the Poyas, which is the Russian name, they are correctly so termed;
+for these names signify "belt" in both languages. Rising on the shores
+of the Arctic Sea, they reach the borders of the Caspian. This was the
+barrier to be crossed by Michael Strogoff before he could enter Siberian
+Russia. The mountains could be crossed in one night, if no accident
+happened. Unfortunately, thunder muttering in the distance announced
+that a storm was at hand. The electric tension was such that it could
+not be dispersed without a tremendous explosion, which in the peculiar
+state of the atmosphere would be very terrible.
+
+Michael took care that his young companion should be as well protected
+as possible. The hood, which might have been easily blown away, was
+fastened more securely with ropes, crossed above and at the back. The
+traces were doubled, and, as an additional precaution, the nave-boxes
+were stuffed with straw, as much to increase the strength of the wheels
+as to lessen the jolting, unavoidable on a dark night. Lastly, the
+fore and hinder parts, connected simply by the axles to the body of the
+tarantass, were joined one to the other by a crossbar, fixed by means of
+pins and screws.
+
+Nadia resumed her place in the cart, and Michael took his seat beside
+her. Before the lowered hood hung two leathern curtains, which would in
+some degree protect the travelers against the wind and rain. Two great
+lanterns, suspended from the iemschik's seat, threw a pale glimmer
+scarcely sufficient to light the way, but serving as warning lights to
+prevent any other carriage from running into them.
+
+It was well that all these precautions were taken, in expectation of a
+rough night. The road led them up towards dense masses of clouds, and
+should the clouds not soon resolve into rain, the fog would be such that
+the tarantass would be unable to advance without danger of falling over
+some precipice.
+
+The Ural chain does not attain any very great height, the highest summit
+not being more than five thousand feet. Eternal snow is there unknown,
+and what is piled up by the Siberian winter is soon melted by the summer
+sun. Shrubs and trees grow to a considerable height. The iron and copper
+mines, as well as those of precious stones, draw a considerable number
+of workmen to that region. Also, those villages termed "gavody" are
+there met with pretty frequently, and the road through the great passes
+is easily practicable for post-carriages.
+
+But what is easy enough in fine weather and broad daylight, offers
+difficulties and perils when the elements are engaged in fierce warfare,
+and the traveler is in the midst of it. Michael Strogoff knew from
+former experience what a storm in the mountains was, and perhaps this
+would be as terrible as the snowstorms which burst forth with such
+vehemence in the winter.
+
+Rain was not yet falling, so Michael raised the leathern curtains which
+protected the interior of the tarantass and looked out, watching
+the sides of the road, peopled with fantastic shadows, caused by the
+wavering light of the lanterns. Nadia, motionless, her arms folded,
+gazed forth also, though without leaning forward, whilst her companion,
+his body half out of the carriage, examined both sky and earth.
+
+The calmness of the atmosphere was very threatening, the air being
+perfectly still. It was just as if Nature were half stifled, and could
+no longer breathe; her lungs, that is to say those gloomy, dense clouds,
+not being able to perform their functions. The silence would have been
+complete but for the grindings of the wheels of the tarantass over the
+road, the creaking of the axles, the snorting of the horses, and the
+clattering of their iron hoofs among the pebbles, sparks flying out on
+every side.
+
+The road was perfectly deserted. The tarantass encountered neither
+pedestrians nor horsemen, nor a vehicle of any description, in the
+narrow defiles of the Ural, on this threatening night. Not even the
+fire of a charcoal-burner was visible in the woods, not an encampment of
+miners near the mines, not a hut among the brushwood.
+
+Under these peculiar circumstances it might have been allowable to
+postpone the journey till the morning. Michael Strogoff, however, had
+not hesitated, he had no right to stop, but then--and it began to cause
+him some anxiety--what possible reason could those travelers in the
+telga ahead have for being so imprudent?
+
+Michael remained thus on the look-out for some time. About eleven
+o'clock lightning began to blaze continuously in the sky. The shadows of
+huge pines appeared and disappeared in the rapid light. Sometimes when
+the tarantass neared the side of the road, deep gulfs, lit up by the
+flashes, could be seen yawning beneath them. From time to time, on
+their vehicle giving a worse lurch than usual, they knew that they were
+crossing a bridge of roughly-hewn planks thrown over some chasm, thunder
+appearing actually to be rumbling below them. Besides this, a booming
+sound filled the air, which increased as they mounted higher. With these
+different noises rose the shouts of the iemschik, sometimes scolding,
+sometimes coaxing his poor beasts, who were suffering more from the
+oppression of the air than the roughness of the roads. Even the bells on
+the shafts could no longer rouse them, and they stumbled every instant.
+
+"At what time shall we reach the top of the ridge?" asked Michael of the
+iemschik.
+
+"At one o'clock in the morning if we ever get there at all," replied he,
+with a shake of his head.
+
+"Why, my friend, this will not be your first storm in the mountains,
+will it?"
+
+"No, and pray God it may not be my last!"
+
+"Are you afraid?"
+
+"No, I'm not afraid, but I repeat that I think you were wrong in
+starting."
+
+"I should have been still more wrong had I stayed."
+
+"Hold up, my pigeons!" cried the iemschik; it was his business to obey,
+not to question.
+
+Just then a distant noise was heard, shrill whistling through the
+atmosphere, so calm a minute before. By the light of a dazzling flash,
+almost immediately followed by a tremendous clap of thunder, Michael
+could see huge pines on a high peak, bending before the blast. The
+wind was unchained, but as yet it was the upper air alone which was
+disturbed. Successive crashes showed that many of the trees had been
+unable to resist the burst of the hurricane. An avalanche of shattered
+trunks swept across the road and dashed over the precipice on the left,
+two hundred feet in front of the tarantass.
+
+The horses stopped short.
+
+"Get up, my pretty doves!" cried the iemschik, adding the cracking of
+his whip to the rumbling of the thunder.
+
+Michael took Nadia's hand. "Are you asleep, sister?"
+
+"No, brother."
+
+"Be ready for anything; here comes the storm!"
+
+"I am ready."
+
+Michael Strogoff had only just time to draw the leathern curtains, when
+the storm was upon them.
+
+The iemschik leapt from his seat and seized the horses' heads, for
+terrible danger threatened the whole party.
+
+The tarantass was at a standstill at a turning of the road, down which
+swept the hurricane; it was absolutely necessary to hold the animals'
+heads to the wind, for if the carriage was taken broadside it must
+infallibly capsize and be dashed over the precipice. The frightened
+horses reared, and their driver could not manage to quiet them. His
+friendly expressions had been succeeded by the most insulting epithets.
+Nothing was of any use. The unfortunate animals, blinded by the
+lightning, terrified by the incessant peals of thunder, threatened every
+instant to break their traces and flee. The iemschik had no longer any
+control over his team.
+
+At that moment Michael Strogoff threw himself from the tarantass and
+rushed to his assistance. Endowed with more than common strength, he
+managed, though not without difficulty, to master the horses.
+
+The storm now raged with redoubled fury. A perfect avalanche of stones
+and trunks of trees began to roll down the slope above them.
+
+"We cannot stop here," said Michael.
+
+"We cannot stop anywhere," returned the iemschik, all his energies
+apparently overcome by terror. "The storm will soon send us to the
+bottom of the mountain, and that by the shortest way."
+
+"Take you that horse, coward," returned Michael, "I'll look after this
+one."
+
+A fresh burst of the storm interrupted him. The driver and he were
+obliged to crouch upon the ground to avoid being blown down. The
+carriage, notwithstanding their efforts and those of the horses, was
+gradually blown back, and had it not been stopped by the trunk of a
+tree, it would have gone over the edge of the precipice.
+
+"Do not be afraid, Nadia!" cried Michael Strogoff.
+
+"I'm not afraid," replied the young Livonian, her voice not betraying
+the slightest emotion.
+
+The rumbling of the thunder ceased for an instant, the terrible blast
+had swept past into the gorge below.
+
+"Will you go back?" said the iemschik.
+
+"No, we must go on! Once past this turning, we shall have the shelter of
+the slope."
+
+"But the horses won't move!"
+
+"Do as I do, and drag them on."
+
+"The storm will come back!"
+
+"Do you mean to obey?"
+
+"Do you order it?"
+
+"The Father orders it!" answered Michael, for the first time invoking
+the all-powerful name of the Emperor.
+
+"Forward, my swallows!" cried the iemschik, seizing one horse, while
+Michael did the same to the other.
+
+Thus urged, the horses began to struggle onward. They could no longer
+rear, and the middle horse not being hampered by the others, could keep
+in the center of the road. It was with the greatest difficulty that
+either man or beasts could stand against the wind, and for every three
+steps they took in advance, they lost one, and even two, by being forced
+backwards. They slipped, they fell, they got up again. The vehicle ran a
+great risk of being smashed. If the hood had not been securely fastened,
+it would have been blown away long before. Michael Strogoff and the
+iemschik took more than two hours in getting up this bit of road, only
+half a verst in length, so directly exposed was it to the lashing of the
+storm. The danger was not only from the wind which battered against the
+travelers, but from the avalanche of stones and broken trunks which were
+hurtling through the air.
+
+Suddenly, during a flash of lightning, one of these masses was seen
+crashing and rolling down the mountain towards the tarantass. The
+iemschik uttered a cry.
+
+Michael Strogoff in vain brought his whip down on the team, they refused
+to move.
+
+A few feet farther on, and the mass would pass behind them! Michael saw
+the tarantass struck, his companion crushed; he saw there was no time to
+drag her from the vehicle.
+
+Then, possessed in this hour of peril with superhuman strength, he threw
+himself behind it, and planting his feet on the ground, by main force
+placed it out of danger.
+
+The enormous mass as it passed grazed his chest, taking away his breath
+as though it had been a cannon-ball, then crushing to powder the flints
+on the road, it bounded into the abyss below.
+
+"Oh, brother!" cried Nadia, who had seen it all by the light of the
+flashes.
+
+"Nadia!" replied Michael, "fear nothing!"
+
+"It is not on my own account that I fear!"
+
+"God is with us, sister!"
+
+"With me truly, brother, since He has sent thee in my way!" murmured the
+young girl.
+
+The impetus the tarantass had received was not to be lost, and the tired
+horses once more moved forward. Dragged, so to speak, by Michael and the
+iemschik, they toiled on towards a narrow pass, lying north and south,
+where they would be protected from the direct sweep of the tempest. At
+one end a huge rock jutted out, round the summit of which whirled an
+eddy. Behind the shelter of the rock there was a comparative calm; yet
+once within the circumference of the cyclone, neither man nor beast
+could resist its power.
+
+Indeed, some firs which towered above this protection were in a trice
+shorn of their tops, as though a gigantic scythe had swept across them.
+The storm was now at its height. The lightning filled the defile, and
+the thunderclaps had become one continued peal. The ground, struck by
+the concussion, trembled as though the whole Ural chain was shaken to
+its foundations.
+
+Happily, the tarantass could be so placed that the storm might strike it
+obliquely. But the counter-currents, directed towards it by the slope,
+could not be so well avoided, and so violent were they that every
+instant it seemed as though it would be dashed to pieces.
+
+Nadia was obliged to leave her seat, and Michael, by the light of one
+of the lanterns, discovered an excavation bearing the marks of a miner's
+pick, where the young girl could rest in safety until they could once
+more start.
+
+Just then--it was one o'clock in the morning--the rain began to fall in
+torrents, and this in addition to the wind and lightning, made the
+storm truly frightful. To continue the journey at present was utterly
+impossible. Besides, having reached this pass, they had only to descend
+the slopes of the Ural Mountains, and to descend now, with the road torn
+up by a thousand mountain torrents, in these eddies of wind and rain,
+was utter madness.
+
+"To wait is indeed serious," said Michael, "but it must certainly be
+done, to avoid still longer detentions. The very violence of the storm
+makes me hope that it will not last long. About three o'clock the day
+will begin to break, and the descent, which we cannot risk in the dark,
+we shall be able, if not with ease, at least without such danger, to
+attempt after sunrise."
+
+"Let us wait, brother," replied Nadia; "but if you delay, let it not be
+to spare me fatigue or danger."
+
+"Nadia, I know that you are ready to brave everything, but, in exposing
+both of us, I risk more than my life, more than yours, I am not
+fulfilling my task, that duty which before everything else I must
+accomplish."
+
+"A duty!" murmured Nadia.
+
+Just then a bright flash lit up the sky; a loud clap followed. The air
+was filled with sulphurous suffocating vapor, and a clump of huge pines,
+struck by the electric fluid, scarcely twenty feet from the tarantass,
+flared up like a gigantic torch.
+
+The iemschik was struck to the ground by a counter-shock, but, regaining
+his feet, found himself happily unhurt.
+
+Just as the last growlings of the thunder were lost in the recesses of
+the mountain, Michael felt Nadia's hand pressing his, and he heard her
+whisper these words in his ear: "Cries, brother! Listen!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI TRAVELERS IN DISTRESS
+
+DURING the momentary lull which followed, shouts could be distinctly
+heard from farther on, at no great distance from the tarantass. It was
+an earnest appeal, evidently from some traveler in distress.
+
+Michael listened attentively. The iemschik also listened, but shook his
+head, as though it was impossible to help.
+
+"They are travelers calling for aid," cried Nadia.
+
+"They can expect nothing," replied the iemschik.
+
+"Why not?" cried Michael. "Ought not we do for them what they would for
+us under similar circumstances?"
+
+"Surely you will not risk the carriage and horses!"
+
+"I will go on foot," replied Michael, interrupting the iemschik.
+
+"I will go, too, brother," said the young girl.
+
+"No, remain here, Nadia. The iemschik will stay with you. I do not wish
+to leave him alone."
+
+"I will stay," replied Nadia.
+
+"Whatever happens, do not leave this spot."
+
+"You will find me where I now am."
+
+Michael pressed her hand, and, turning the corner of the slope,
+disappeared in the darkness.
+
+"Your brother is wrong," said the iemschik.
+
+"He is right," replied Nadia simply.
+
+Meanwhile Strogoff strode rapidly on. If he was in a great hurry to aid
+the travelers, he was also very anxious to know who it was that had not
+been hindered from starting by the storm; for he had no doubt that the
+cries came from the telga, which had so long preceded him.
+
+The rain had stopped, but the storm was raging with redoubled fury. The
+shouts, borne on the air, became more distinct. Nothing was to be seen
+of the pass in which Nadia remained. The road wound along, and the
+squalls, checked by the corners, formed eddies highly dangerous, to pass
+which, without being taken off his legs, Michael had to use his utmost
+strength.
+
+He soon perceived that the travelers whose shouts he had heard were at
+no great distance. Even then, on account of the darkness, Michael could
+not see them, yet he heard distinctly their words.
+
+This is what he heard, and what caused him some surprise: "Are you
+coming back, blockhead?"
+
+"You shall have a taste of the knout at the next stage."
+
+"Do you hear, you devil's postillion! Hullo! Below!"
+
+"This is how a carriage takes you in this country!"
+
+"Yes, this is what you call a telga!"
+
+"Oh, that abominable driver! He goes on and does not appear to have
+discovered that he has left us behind!"
+
+"To deceive me, too! Me, an honorable Englishman! I will make a
+complaint at the chancellor's office and have the fellow hanged."
+
+This was said in a very angry tone, but was suddenly interrupted by a
+burst of laughter from his companion, who exclaimed, "Well! this is a
+good joke, I must say."
+
+"You venture to laugh!" said the Briton angrily.
+
+"Certainly, my dear confrere, and that most heartily. 'Pon my word I
+never saw anything to come up to it."
+
+Just then a crashing clap of thunder re-echoed through the defile, and
+then died away among the distant peaks. When the sound of the last growl
+had ceased, the merry voice went on: "Yes, it undoubtedly is a good
+joke. This machine certainly never came from France."
+
+"Nor from England," replied the other.
+
+On the road, by the light of the flashes, Michael saw, twenty yards from
+him, two travelers, seated side by side in a most peculiar vehicle, the
+wheels of which were deeply imbedded in the ruts formed in the road.
+
+He approached them, the one grinning from ear to ear, and the other
+gloomily contemplating his situation, and recognized them as the two
+reporters who had been his companions on board the Caucasus.
+
+"Good-morning to you, sir," cried the Frenchman. "Delighted to see you
+here. Let me introduce you to my intimate enemy, Mr. Blount."
+
+The English reporter bowed, and was about to introduce in his turn his
+companion, Alcide Jolivet, in accordance with the rules of society, when
+Michael interrupted him.
+
+"Perfectly unnecessary, sir; we already know each other, for we traveled
+together on the Volga."
+
+"Ah, yes! exactly so! Mr.--"
+
+"Nicholas Korpanoff, merchant, of Irkutsk. But may I know what has
+happened which, though a misfortune to your companion, amuses you so
+much?"
+
+"Certainly, Mr. Korpanoff," replied Alcide. "Fancy! our driver has gone
+off with the front part of this confounded carriage, and left us quietly
+seated in the back part! So here we are in the worse half of a telga; no
+driver, no horses. Is it not a joke?"
+
+"No joke at all," said the Englishman.
+
+"Indeed it is, my dear fellow. You do not know how to look at the bright
+side of things."
+
+"How, pray, are we to go on?" asked Blount.
+
+"That is the easiest thing in the world," replied Alcide. "Go and
+harness yourself to what remains of our cart; I will take the reins, and
+call you my little pigeon, like a true iemschik, and you will trot off
+like a real post-horse."
+
+"Mr. Jolivet," replied the Englishman, "this joking is going too far, it
+passes all limits and--"
+
+"Now do be quiet, my dear sir. When you are done up, I will take your
+place; and call me a broken-winded snail and faint-hearted tortoise if I
+don't take you over the ground at a rattling pace."
+
+Alcide said all this with such perfect good-humor that Michael could not
+help smiling. "Gentlemen," said he, "here is a better plan. We have now
+reached the highest ridge of the Ural chain, and thus have merely to
+descend the slopes of the mountain. My carriage is close by, only two
+hundred yards behind. I will lend you one of my horses, harness it to
+the remains of the telga, and to-mor-how, if no accident befalls us, we
+will arrive together at Ekaterenburg."
+
+"That, Mr. Korpanoff," said Alcide, "is indeed a generous proposal."
+
+"Indeed, sir," replied Michael, "I would willingly offer you places in
+my tarantass, but it will only hold two, and my sister and I already
+fill it."
+
+"Really, sir," answered Alcide, "with your horse and our demi-telga we
+will go to the world's end."
+
+"Sir," said Harry Blount, "we most willingly accept your kind offer.
+And, as to that iemschik--"
+
+"Oh! I assure you that you are not the first travelers who have met with
+a similar misfortune," replied Michael.
+
+"But why should not our driver come back? He knows perfectly well that
+he has left us behind, wretch that he is!"
+
+"He! He never suspected such a thing."
+
+"What! the fellow not know that he was leaving the better half of his
+telga behind?"
+
+"Not a bit, and in all good faith is driving the fore part into
+Ekaterenburg."
+
+"Did I not tell you that it was a good joke, confrere?" cried Alcide.
+
+"Then, gentlemen, if you will follow me," said Michael, "we will return
+to my carriage, and--"
+
+"But the telga," observed the Englishman.
+
+"There is not the slightest fear that it will fly away, my dear Blount!"
+exclaimed Alcide; "it has taken such good root in the ground, that if it
+were left here until next spring it would begin to bud."
+
+"Come then, gentlemen," said Michael Strogoff, "and we will bring up the
+tarantass."
+
+The Frenchman and the Englishman, descending from their seats, no
+longer the hinder one, since the front had taken its departure, followed
+Michael.
+
+Walking along, Alcide Jolivet chattered away as usual, with his
+invariable good-humor. "Faith, Mr. Korpanoff," said he, "you have indeed
+got us out of a bad scrape."
+
+"I have only done, sir," replied Michael, "what anyone would have done
+in my place."
+
+"Well, sir, you have done us a good turn, and if you are going farther
+we may possibly meet again, and--"
+
+Alcide Jolivet did not put any direct question to Michael as to where
+he was going, but the latter, not wishing it to be suspected that he had
+anything to conceal, at once replied, "I am bound for Omsk, gentlemen."
+
+"Mr. Blount and I," replied Alcide, "go where danger is certainly to be
+found, and without doubt news also."
+
+"To the invaded provinces?" asked Michael with some earnestness.
+
+"Exactly so, Mr. Korpanoff; and we may possibly meet there."
+
+"Indeed, sir," replied Michael, "I have little love for cannon-balls
+or lance points, and am by nature too great a lover of peace to venture
+where fighting is going on."
+
+"I am sorry, sir, extremely sorry; we must only regret that we shall
+separate so soon! But on leaving Ekaterenburg it may be our fortunate
+fate to travel together, if only for a few days?"
+
+"Do you go on to Omsk?" asked Michael, after a moment's reflection.
+
+"We know nothing as yet," replied Alcide; "but we shall certainly go
+as far as Ishim, and once there, our movements must depend on
+circumstances."
+
+"Well then, gentlemen," said Michael, "we will be fellow-travelers as
+far as Ishim."
+
+Michael would certainly have preferred to travel alone, but he could
+not, without appearing at least singular, seek to separate himself from
+the two reporters, who were taking the same road that he was. Besides,
+since Alcide and his companion intended to make some stay at Ishim, he
+thought it rather convenient than otherwise to make that part of the
+journey in their company.
+
+Then in an indifferent tone he asked, "Do you know, with any certainty,
+where this Tartar invasion is?"
+
+"Indeed, sir," replied Alcide, "we only know what they said at Perm.
+Feofar-Khan's Tartars have invaded the whole province of Semipolatinsk,
+and for some days, by forced marches, have been descending the Irtish.
+You must hurry if you wish to get to Omsk before them."
+
+"Indeed I must," replied Michael.
+
+"It is reported also that Colonel Ogareff has succeeded in passing the
+frontier in disguise, and that he will not be slow in joining the Tartar
+chief in the revolted country."
+
+"But how do they know it?" asked Michael, whom this news, more or less
+true, so directly concerned.
+
+"Oh! as these things are always known," replied Alcide; "it is in the
+air."
+
+"Then have you really reason to think that Colonel Ogareff is in
+Siberia?"
+
+"I myself have heard it said that he was to take the road from Kasan to
+Ekaterenburg."
+
+"Ah! you know that, Mr. Jolivet?" said Harry Blount, roused from his
+silence.
+
+"I knew it," replied Alcide.
+
+"And do you know that he went disguised as a gypsy!" asked Blount.
+
+"As a gypsy!" exclaimed Michael, almost involuntarily, and he suddenly
+remembered the look of the old Bohemian at Nijni-Novgorod, his voyage on
+board the Caucasus, and his disembarking at Kasan.
+
+"Just well enough to make a few remarks on the subject in a letter to my
+cousin," replied Alcide, smiling.
+
+"You lost no time at Kasan," dryly observed the Englishman.
+
+"No, my dear fellow! and while the Caucasus was laying in her supply of
+fuel, I was employed in obtaining a store of information."
+
+Michael no longer listened to the repartee which Harry Blount and Alcide
+exchanged. He was thinking of the gypsy troupe, of the old Tsigane,
+whose face he had not been able to see, and of the strange woman who
+accompanied him, and then of the peculiar glance which she had cast at
+him. Suddenly, close by he heard a pistol-shot.
+
+"Ah! forward, sirs!" cried he.
+
+"Hullo!" said Alcide to himself, "this quiet merchant who always avoids
+bullets is in a great hurry to go where they are flying about just now!"
+
+Quickly followed by Harry Blount, who was not a man to be behind in
+danger, he dashed after Michael. In another instant the three were
+opposite the projecting rock which protected the tarantass at the
+turning of the road.
+
+The clump of pines struck by the lightning was still burning. There
+was no one to be seen. However, Michael was not mistaken. Suddenly a
+dreadful growling was heard, and then another report.
+
+"A bear;" cried Michael, who could not mistake the growling. "Nadia;
+Nadia!" And drawing his cutlass from his belt, Michael bounded round the
+buttress behind which the young girl had promised to wait.
+
+The pines, completely enveloped in flames, threw a wild glare on the
+scene. As Michael reached the tarantass, a huge animal retreated towards
+him.
+
+It was a monstrous bear. The tempest had driven it from the woods, and
+it had come to seek refuge in this cave, doubtless its habitual retreat,
+which Nadia then occupied.
+
+Two of the horses, terrified at the presence of the enormous creature,
+breaking their traces, had escaped, and the iemschik, thinking only
+of his beasts, leaving Nadia face to face with the bear, had gone in
+pursuit of them.
+
+But the brave girl had not lost her presence of mind. The animal, which
+had not at first seen her, was attacking the remaining horse. Nadia,
+leaving the shelter in which she had been crouching, had run to the
+carriage, taken one of Michael's revolvers, and, advancing resolutely
+towards the bear, had fired close to it.
+
+The animal, slightly wounded in the shoulder, turned on the girl, who
+rushed for protection behind the tarantass, but then, seeing that the
+horse was attempting to break its traces, and knowing that if it did so,
+and the others were not recovered, their journey could not be continued,
+with the most perfect coolness she again approached the bear, and, as it
+raised its paws to strike her down, gave it the contents of the second
+barrel.
+
+This was the report which Michael had just heard. In an instant he was
+on the spot. Another bound and he was between the bear and the girl. His
+arm made one movement upwards, and the enormous beast, ripped up by that
+terrible knife, fell to the ground a lifeless mass. He had executed in
+splendid style the famous blow of the Siberian hunters, who endeavor not
+to damage the precious fur of the bear, which fetches a high price.
+
+"You are not wounded, sister?" said Michael, springing to the side of
+the young girl.
+
+"No, brother," replied Nadia.
+
+At that moment the two journalists came up. Alcide seized the horse's
+head, and, in an instant, his strong wrist mastered it. His companion
+and he had seen Michael's rapid stroke. "Bravo!" cried Alcide; "for a
+simple merchant, Mr. Korpanoff, you handle the hunter's knife in a most
+masterly fashion."
+
+"Most masterly, indeed," added Blount.
+
+"In Siberia," replied Michael, "we are obliged to do a little of
+everything."
+
+Alcide regarded him attentively. Seen in the bright glare, his knife
+dripping with blood, his tall figure, his foot firm on the huge carcass,
+he was indeed worth looking at.
+
+"A formidable fellow," said Alcide to himself. Then advancing
+respectfully, he saluted the young girl.
+
+Nadia bowed slightly.
+
+Alcide turned towards his companion. "The sister worthy of the brother!"
+said he. "Now, were I a bear, I should not meddle with two so brave and
+so charming."
+
+Harry Blount, perfectly upright, stood, hat in hand, at some distance.
+His companion's easy manners only increased his usual stiffness.
+
+At that moment the iemschik, who had succeeded in recapturing his two
+horses, reappeared. He cast a regretful glance at the magnificent animal
+lying on the ground, loth to leave it to the birds of prey, and then
+proceeded once more to harness his team.
+
+Michael acquainted him with the travelers' situation, and his intention
+of loaning one of the horses.
+
+"As you please," replied the iemschik. "Only, you know, two carriages
+instead of one."
+
+"All right, my friend," said Alcide, who understood the insinuation, "we
+will pay double."
+
+"Then gee up, my turtle-doves!" cried the iemschik.
+
+Nadia again took her place in the tarantass. Michael and his companions
+followed on foot. It was three o'clock. The storm still swept with
+terrific violence across the defile. When the first streaks of
+daybreak appeared the tarantass had reached the telga, which was still
+conscientiously imbedded as far as the center of the wheel. Such being
+the case, it can be easily understood how a sudden jerk would separate
+the front from the hinder part. One of the horses was now harnessed by
+means of cords to the remains of the telga, the reporters took their
+place on the singular equipage, and the two carriages started off. They
+had now only to descend the Ural slopes, in doing which there was not
+the slightest difficulty.
+
+Six hours afterwards the two vehicles, the tarantass preceding the
+telga, arrived at Ekaterenburg, nothing worthy of note having happened
+in the descent.
+
+The first person the reporters perceived at the door of the post-house
+was their iemschik, who appeared to be waiting for them. This worthy
+Russian had a fine open countenance, and he smilingly approached the
+travelers, and, holding out his hand, in a quiet tone he demanded the
+usual "pour-boire."
+
+This very cool request roused Blount's ire to its highest pitch, and had
+not the iemschik prudently retreated, a straight-out blow of the fist,
+in true British boxing style, would have paid his claim of "na vodkou."
+
+Alcide Jolivet, at this burst of anger, laughed as he had never laughed
+before.
+
+"But the poor devil is quite right!" he cried. "He is perfectly right,
+my dear fellow. It is not his fault if we did not know how to follow
+him!"
+
+Then drawing several copecks from his pocket, "Here my friend," said he,
+handing them to the iemschik; "take them. If you have not earned them,
+that is not your fault."
+
+This redoubled Mr. Blount's irritation. He even began to speak of a
+lawsuit against the owner of the telga.
+
+"A lawsuit in Russia, my dear fellow!" cried Alcide. "Things must indeed
+change should it ever be brought to a conclusion! Did you never hear the
+story of the wet-nurse who claimed payment of twelve months' nursing of
+some poor little infant?"
+
+"I never heard it," replied Harry Blount.
+
+"Then you do not know what that suckling had become by the time judgment
+was given in favor of the nurse?"
+
+"What was he, pray?"
+
+"Colonel of the Imperial Guard!"
+
+At this reply all burst into a laugh.
+
+Alcide, enchanted with his own joke, drew out his notebook, and in it
+wrote the following memorandum, destined to figure in a forthcoming
+French and Russian dictionary: "Telga, a Russian carriage with four
+wheels, that is when it starts; with two wheels, when it arrives at its
+destination."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII PROVOCATION
+
+EKATERENBURG, geographically, is an Asiatic city; for it is situated
+beyond the Ural Mountains, on the farthest eastern slopes of the chain.
+Nevertheless, it belongs to the government of Perm; and, consequently,
+is included in one of the great divisions of European Russia. It is as
+though a morsel of Siberia lay in Russian jaws.
+
+Neither Michael nor his companions were likely to experience the
+slightest difficulty in obtaining means of continuing their journey in
+so large a town as Ekaterenburg. It was founded in 1723, and has since
+become a place of considerable size, for in it is the chief mint of the
+empire. There also are the headquarters of the officials employed in
+the management of the mines. Thus the town is the center of an important
+district, abounding in manufactories principally for the working and
+refining of gold and platina.
+
+Just now the population of Ekaterenburg had greatly increased; many
+Russians and Siberians, menaced by the Tartar invasion, having collected
+there. Thus, though it had been so troublesome a matter to find horses
+and vehicles when going to Ekaterenburg, there was no difficulty in
+leaving it; for under present circumstances few travelers cared to
+venture on the Siberian roads.
+
+So it happened that Blount and Alcide had not the slightest trouble in
+replacing, by a sound telga, the famous demi-carriage which had managed
+to take them to Ekaterenburg. As to Michael, he retained his tarantass,
+which was not much the worse for its journey across the Urals; and he
+had only to harness three good horses to it to take him swiftly over the
+road to Irkutsk.
+
+As far as Tioumen, and even up to Novo-Zaimskoe, this road has slight
+inclines, which gentle undulations are the first signs of the slopes of
+the Ural Mountains. But after Novo-Zaimskoe begins the immense steppe.
+
+At Ichim, as we have said, the reporters intended to stop, that is
+at about four hundred and twenty miles from Ekaterenburg. There they
+intended to be guided by circumstances as to their route across the
+invaded country, either together or separately, according as their
+news-hunting instinct set them on one track or another.
+
+This road from Ekaterenburg to Ichim--which passes through Irkutsk--was
+the only one which Michael could take. But, as he did not run after
+news, and wished, on the contrary, to avoid the country devastated by
+the invaders, he determined to stop nowhere.
+
+"I am very happy to make part of my journey in your company," said he to
+his new companions, "but I must tell you that I am most anxious to reach
+Omsk; for my sister and I are going to rejoin our mother. Who can
+say whether we shall arrive before the Tartars reach the town! I must
+therefore stop at the post-houses only long enough to change horses, and
+must travel day and night."
+
+"That is exactly what we intend doing," replied Blount.
+
+"Good," replied Michael; "but do not lose an instant. Buy or hire a
+carriage whose--"
+
+"Whose hind wheels," added Alcide, "are warranted to arrive at the same
+time as its front wheels."
+
+Half an hour afterwards the energetic Frenchman had found a tarantass in
+which he and his companion at once seated themselves. Michael and Nadia
+once more entered their own carriage, and at twelve o'clock the two
+vehicles left the town of Ekaterenburg together.
+
+Nadia was at last in Siberia, on that long road which led to Irkutsk.
+What must then have been the thoughts of the young girl? Three strong
+swift horses were taking her across that land of exile where her parent
+was condemned to live, for how long she knew not, and so far from his
+native land. But she scarcely noticed those long steppes over which the
+tarantass was rolling, and which at one time she had despaired of ever
+seeing, for her eyes were gazing at the horizon, beyond which she knew
+her banished father was. She saw nothing of the country across which she
+was traveling at the rate of fifteen versts an hour; nothing of these
+regions of Western Siberia, so different from those of the east. Here,
+indeed, were few cultivated fields; the soil was poor, at least at the
+surface, but in its bowels lay hid quantities of iron, copper, platina,
+and gold. How can hands be found to cultivate the land, when it pays
+better to burrow beneath the earth? The pickaxe is everywhere at work;
+the spade nowhere.
+
+However, Nadia's thoughts sometimes left the provinces of Lake Baikal,
+and returned to her present situation. Her father's image faded away,
+and was replaced by that of her generous companion as he first appeared
+on the Vladimir railroad. She recalled his attentions during that
+journey, his arrival at the police-station, the hearty simplicity with
+which he had called her sister, his kindness to her in the descent of
+the Volga, and then all that he did for her on that terrible night of
+the storm in the Urals, when he saved her life at the peril of his own.
+
+Thus Nadia thought of Michael. She thanked God for having given her such
+a gallant protector, a friend so generous and wise. She knew that she
+was safe with him, under his protection. No brother could have done
+more than he. All obstacles seemed cleared away; the performance of her
+journey was but a matter of time.
+
+Michael remained buried in thought. He also thanked God for having
+brought about this meeting with Nadia, which at the same time enabled
+him to do a good action, and afforded him additional means for
+concealing his true character. He delighted in the young girl's calm
+intrepidity. Was she not indeed his sister? His feeling towards his
+beautiful and brave companion was rather respect than affection. He felt
+that hers was one of those pure and rare hearts which are held by all in
+high esteem.
+
+However, Michael's dangers were now beginning, since he had reached
+Siberian ground. If the reporters were not mistaken, if Ivan Ogareff had
+really passed the frontier, all his actions must be made with extreme
+caution. Things were now altered; Tartar spies swarmed in the Siberian
+provinces. His incognito once discovered, his character as courier of
+the Czar known, there was an end of his journey, and probably of his
+life. Michael felt now more than ever the weight of his responsibility.
+
+While such were the thoughts of those occupying the first carriage, what
+was happening in the second? Nothing out of the way. Alcide spoke in
+sentences; Blount replied by monosyllables. Each looked at everything
+in his own light, and made notes of such incidents as occurred on the
+journey--few and but slightly varied--while they crossed the provinces
+of Western Siberia.
+
+At each relay the reporters descended from their carriage and found
+themselves with Michael. Except when meals were to be taken at the
+post-houses, Nadia did not leave the tarantass. When obliged to
+breakfast or dine, she sat at table, but was always very reserved, and
+seldom joined in conversation.
+
+Alcide, without going beyond the limits of strict propriety, showed that
+he was greatly struck by the young girl. He admired the silent energy
+which she showed in bearing all the fatigues of so difficult a journey.
+
+The forced stoppages were anything but agreeable to Michael; so he
+hastened the departure at each relay, roused the innkeepers, urged on
+the iemschiks, and expedited the harnessing of the tarantass. Then the
+hurried meal over--always much too hurried to agree with Blount, who was
+a methodical eater--they started, and were driven as eagles, for they
+paid like princes.
+
+It need scarcely be said that Blount did not trouble himself about the
+girl at table. That gentleman was not in the habit of doing two things
+at once. She was also one of the few subjects of conversation which he
+did not care to discuss with his companion.
+
+Alcide having asked him, on one occasion, how old he thought the girl,
+"What girl?" he replied, quite seriously.
+
+"Why, Nicholas Korpanoff's sister."
+
+"Is she his sister?"
+
+"No; his grandmother!" replied Alcide, angry at his indifference. "What
+age should you consider her?"
+
+"Had I been present at her birth I might have known."
+
+Very few of the Siberian peasants were to be seen in the fields. These
+peasants are remarkable for their pale, grave faces, which a celebrated
+traveler has compared to those of the Castilians, without the
+haughtiness of the latter. Here and there some villages already deserted
+indicated the approach of the Tartar hordes. The inhabitants, having
+driven off their flocks of sheep, their camels, and their horses, were
+taking refuge in the plains of the north. Some tribes of the wandering
+Kirghiz, who remained faithful, had transported their tents beyond the
+Irtych, to escape the depredations of the invaders.
+
+Happily, post traveling was as yet uninterrupted; and telegraphic
+communication could still be effected between places connected with the
+wire. At each relay horses were to be had on the usual conditions. At
+each telegraphic station the clerks transmitted messages delivered to
+them, delaying for State dispatches alone.
+
+Thus far, then, Michael's journey had been accomplished satisfactorily.
+The courier of the Czar had in no way been impeded; and, if he could
+only get on to Krasnoiarsk, which seemed the farthest point attained by
+Feofar-Khan's Tartars, he knew that he could arrive at Irkutsk, before
+them. The day after the two carriages had left Ekaterenburg they reached
+the small town of Toulouguisk at seven o'clock in the morning, having
+covered two hundred and twenty versts, no event worthy of mention having
+occurred. The same evening, the 22d of July, they arrived at Tioumen.
+
+Tioumen, whose population is usually ten thousand inhabitants,
+then contained double that number. This, the first industrial town
+established by the Russians in Siberia, in which may be seen a fine
+metal-refining factory and a bell foundry, had never before presented
+such an animated appearance. The correspondents immediately went off
+after news. That brought by Siberian fugitives from the seat of war was
+far from reassuring. They said, amongst other things, that Feofar-Khan's
+army was rapidly approaching the valley of the Ichim, and they confirmed
+the report that the Tartar chief was soon to be joined by Colonel
+Ogareff, if he had not been so already. Hence the conclusion was
+that operations would be pushed in Eastern Siberia with the greatest
+activity. However, the loyal Cossacks of the government of Tobolsk were
+advancing by forced marches towards Tomsk, in the hope of cutting off
+the Tartar columns.
+
+At midnight the town of Novo-Saimsk was reached; and the travelers now
+left behind them the country broken by tree-covered hills, the last
+remains of the Urals.
+
+Here began the regular Siberian steppe which extends to the neighborhood
+of Krasnoiarsk. It is a boundless plain, a vast grassy desert; earth
+and sky here form a circle as distinct as that traced by a sweep of the
+compasses. The steppe presents nothing to attract notice but the long
+line of the telegraph posts, their wires vibrating in the breeze like
+the strings of a harp. The road could be distinguished from the rest of
+the plain only by the clouds of fine dust which rose under the wheels
+of the tarantass. Had it not been for this white riband, which stretched
+away as far as the eye could reach, the travelers might have thought
+themselves in a desert.
+
+Michael and his companions again pressed rapidly forward. The horses,
+urged on by the iemschik, seemed to fly over the ground, for there
+was not the slightest obstacle to impede them. The tarantass was going
+straight for Ichim, where the two correspondents intended to stop, if
+nothing happened to make them alter their plans.
+
+A hundred and twenty miles separated Novo-Saimsk from the town of Ichim,
+and before eight o'clock the next evening the distance could and should
+be accomplished if no time was lost. In the opinion of the iemschiks,
+should the travelers not be great lords or high functionaries, they were
+worthy of being so, if it was only for their generosity in the matter of
+"na vodkou."
+
+On the afternoon of the next day, the 23rd of July, the two carriages
+were not more than thirty versts from Ichim. Suddenly Michael
+caught sight of a carriage--scarcely visible among the clouds of
+dust--preceding them along the road. As his horses were evidently less
+fatigued than those of the other traveler, he would not be long
+in overtaking it. This was neither a tarantass nor a telga, but
+a post-berlin, which looked as if it had made a long journey. The
+postillion was thrashing his horses with all his might, and only kept
+them at a gallop by dint of abuse and blows. The berlin had certainly
+not passed through Novo-Saimsk, and could only have struck the Irkutsk
+road by some less frequented route across the steppe.
+
+Our travelers' first thought, on seeing this berlin, was to get in
+front of it, and arrive first at the relay, so as to make sure of fresh
+horses. They said a word to their iemschiks, who soon brought them up
+with the berlin.
+
+Michael Strogoff came up first. As he passed, a head was thrust out of
+the window of the berlin.
+
+He had not time to see what it was like, but as he dashed by he
+distinctly heard this word, uttered in an imperious tone: "Stop!"
+
+But they did not stop; on the contrary, the berlin was soon distanced by
+the two tarantasses.
+
+It now became a regular race; for the horses of the berlin--no doubt
+excited by the sight and pace of the others--recovered their strength
+and kept up for some minutes. The three carriages were hidden in a
+cloud of dust. From this cloud issued the cracking of whips mingled with
+excited shouts and exclamations of anger.
+
+Nevertheless, the advantage remained with Michael and his companions,
+which might be very important to them if the relay was poorly provided
+with horses. Two carriages were perhaps more than the postmaster could
+provide for, at least in a short space of time.
+
+Half an hour after the berlin was left far behind, looking only a speck
+on the horizon of the steppe.
+
+It was eight o'clock in the evening when the two carriages reached
+Ichim. The news was worse and worse with regard to the invasion. The
+town itself was menaced by the Tartar vanguard; and two days before the
+authorities had been obliged to retreat to Tobolsk. There was not an
+officer nor a soldier left in Ichim.
+
+On arriving at the relay, Michael Strogoff immediately asked for horses.
+He had been fortunate in distancing the berlin. Only three horses were
+fit to be harnessed. The others had just come in worn out from a long
+stage.
+
+As the two correspondents intended to stop at Ichim, they had not to
+trouble themselves to find transport, and had their carriage put away.
+In ten minutes Michael was told that his tarantass was ready to start.
+
+"Good," said he.
+
+Then turning to the two reporters: "Well, gentlemen, the time is come
+for us to separate."
+
+"What, Mr. Korpanoff," said Alcide Jolivet, "shall you not stop even for
+an hour at Ichim?"
+
+"No, sir; and I also wish to leave the post-house before the arrival of
+the berlin which we distanced."
+
+"Are you afraid that the traveler will dispute the horses with you?"
+
+"I particularly wish to avoid any difficulty."
+
+"Then, Mr. Korpanoff," said Jolivet, "it only remains for us to thank
+you once more for the service you rendered us, and the pleasure we have
+had in traveling with you."
+
+"It is possible that we shall meet you again in a few days at Omsk,"
+added Blount.
+
+"It is possible," answered Michael, "since I am going straight there."
+
+"Well, I wish you a safe journey, Mr. Korpanoff," said Alcide, "and
+Heaven preserve you from telgas."
+
+The two reporters held out their hands to Michael with the intention of
+cordially shaking his, when the sound of a carriage was heard outside.
+Almost immediately the door was flung open and a man appeared.
+
+It was the traveler of the berlin, a military-looking man, apparently
+about forty years of age, tall, robust in figure, broad-shouldered, with
+a strongly-set head, and thick mus-taches meeting red whiskers. He wore
+a plain uniform. A cavalry saber hung at his side, and in his hand he
+held a short-handled whip.
+
+"Horses," he demanded, with the air of a man accustomed to command.
+
+"I have no more disposable horses," answered the postmaster, bowing.
+
+"I must have some this moment."
+
+"It is impossible."
+
+"What are those horses which have just been harnessed to the tarantass I
+saw at the door?"
+
+"They belong to this traveler," answered the postmaster, pointing to
+Michael Strogoff.
+
+"Take them out!" said the traveler in a tone which admitted of no reply.
+
+Michael then advanced.
+
+"These horses are engaged by me," he said.
+
+"What does that matter? I must have them. Come, be quick; I have no time
+to lose."
+
+"I have no time to lose either," replied Michael, restraining himself
+with difficulty.
+
+Nadia was near him, calm also, but secretly uneasy at a scene which it
+would have been better to avoid.
+
+"Enough!" said the traveler. Then, going up to the postmaster, "Let the
+horses be put into my berlin," he exclaimed with a threatening gesture.
+
+The postmaster, much embarrassed, did not know whom to obey, and looked
+at Michael, who evidently had the right to resist the unjust demands of
+the traveler.
+
+Michael hesitated an instant. He did not wish to make use of his
+podorojna, which would have drawn attention to him, and he was most
+unwilling also, by giving up his horses, to delay his journey, and yet
+he must not engage in a struggle which might compromise his mission.
+
+The two reporters looked at him ready to support him should he appeal to
+them.
+
+"My horses will remain in my carriage," said Michael, but without
+raising his tone more than would be suitable for a plain Irkutsk
+merchant.
+
+The traveler advanced towards Michael and laid his hand heavily on his
+shoulder. "Is it so?" he said roughly. "You will not give up your horses
+to me?"
+
+"No," answered Michael.
+
+"Very well, they shall belong to whichever of us is able to start.
+Defend yourself; I shall not spare you!"
+
+So saying, the traveler drew his saber from its sheath, and Nadia threw
+herself before Michael.
+
+Blount and Alcide Jolivet advanced towards him.
+
+"I shall not fight," said Michael quietly, folding his arms across his
+chest.
+
+"You will not fight?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Not even after this?" exclaimed the traveler. And before anyone could
+prevent him, he struck Michael's shoulder with the handle of the whip.
+At this insult Michael turned deadly pale. His hands moved convulsively
+as if he would have knocked the brute down. But by a tremendous effort
+he mastered himself. A duel! it was more than a delay; it was perhaps
+the failure of his mission. It would be better to lose some hours. Yes;
+but to swallow this affront!
+
+"Will you fight now, coward?" repeated the traveler, adding coarseness
+to brutality.
+
+"No," answered Michael, without moving, but looking the other straight
+in the face.
+
+"The horses this moment," said the man, and left the room.
+
+The postmaster followed him, after shrugging his shoulders and bestowing
+on Michael a glance of anything but approbation.
+
+The effect produced on the reporters by this incident was not to
+Michael's advantage. Their discomfiture was visible. How could this
+strong young man allow himself to be struck like that and not demand
+satisfaction for such an insult? They contented themselves with bowing
+to him and retired, Jolivet remarking to Harry Blount
+
+"I could not have believed that of a man who is so skillful in finishing
+up Ural Mountain bears. Is it the case that a man can be courageous at
+one time and a coward at another? It is quite incomprehensible."
+
+A moment afterwards the noise of wheels and whip showed that the berlin,
+drawn by the tarantass' horses, was driving rapidly away from the
+post-house.
+
+Nadia, unmoved, and Michael, still quivering, remained alone in the
+room. The courier of the Czar, his arms crossed over his chest was
+seated motionless as a statue. A color, which could not have been the
+blush of shame, had replaced the paleness on his countenance.
+
+Nadia did not doubt that powerful reasons alone could have allowed him
+to suffer so great a humiliation from such a man. Going up to him as he
+had come to her in the police-station at Nijni-Novgorod:
+
+"Your hand, brother," said she.
+
+And at the same time her hand, with an almost maternal gesture, wiped
+away a tear which sprang to her companion's eye.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII DUTY BEFORE EVERYTHING
+
+NADIA, with the clear perception of a right-minded woman, guessed that
+some secret motive directed all Michael Strogoff's actions; that he,
+for a reason unknown to her, did not belong to himself; and that in
+this instance especially he had heroically sacrificed to duty even his
+resentment at the gross injury he had received.
+
+Nadia, therefore, asked no explanation from Michael. Had not the hand
+which she had extended to him already replied to all that he might have
+been able to tell her?
+
+Michael remained silent all the evening. The postmaster not being able
+to supply them with fresh horses until the next morning, a whole night
+must be passed at the house. Nadia could profit by it to take some rest,
+and a room was therefore prepared for her.
+
+The young girl would no doubt have preferred not to leave her companion,
+but she felt that he would rather be alone, and she made ready to go to
+her room.
+
+Just as she was about to retire she could not refrain from going up to
+Michael to say good-night.
+
+"Brother," she whispered. But he checked her with a gesture. The girl
+sighed and left the room.
+
+Michael Strogoff did not lie down. He could not have slept even for an
+hour. The place on which he had been struck by the brutal traveler felt
+like a burn.
+
+"For my country and the Father," he muttered as he ended his evening
+prayer.
+
+He especially felt a great wish to know who was the man who had struck
+him, whence he came, and where he was going. As to his face, the
+features of it were so deeply engraven on his memory that he had no fear
+of ever forgetting them.
+
+Michael Strogoff at last asked for the postmaster. The latter,
+a Siberian of the old type, came directly, and looking rather
+contemptuously at the young man, waited to be questioned.
+
+"You belong to the country?" asked Michael.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you know that man who took my horses?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Had you never seen him before?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Who do you think he was?"
+
+"A man who knows how to make himself obeyed."
+
+Michael fixed his piercing gaze upon the Siberian, but the other did not
+quail before it.
+
+"Do you dare to judge me?" exclaimed Michael.
+
+"Yes," answered the Siberian, "there are some things even a plain
+merchant cannot receive without returning."
+
+"Blows?"
+
+"Blows, young man. I am of an age and strength to tell you so."
+
+Michael went up to the postmaster and laid his two powerful hands on his
+shoulders.
+
+Then in a peculiarly calm tone, "Be off, my friend," said he: "be off! I
+could kill you."
+
+The postmaster understood. "I like him better for that," he muttered and
+retired without another word.
+
+At eight o'clock the next morning, the 24th of July, three strong horses
+were harnessed to the tarantass. Michael Strogoff and Nadia took their
+places, and Ichim, with its disagreeable remembrances, was soon left far
+behind.
+
+At the different relays at which they stopped during the day Strogoff
+ascertained that the berlin still preceded them on the road to Irkutsk,
+and that the traveler, as hurried as they were, never lost a minute in
+pursuing his way across the steppe.
+
+At four o'clock in the evening they reached Abatskaia, fifty miles
+farther on, where the Ichim, one of the principal affluents of the
+Irtych, had to be crossed. This passage was rather more difficult than
+that of the Tobol. Indeed the current of the Ichim was very rapid just
+at that place. During the Siberian winter, the rivers being all frozen
+to a thickness of several feet, they are easily practicable, and the
+traveler even crosses them without being aware of the fact, for their
+beds have disappeared under the snowy sheet spread uniformly over the
+steppe; but in summer the difficulties of crossing are sometimes great.
+
+In fact, two hours were taken up in making the passage of the Ichim,
+which much exasperated Michael, especially as the boatmen gave them
+alarming news of the Tartar invasion. Some of Feofar-Khan's scouts had
+already appeared on both banks of the lower Ichim, in the southern parts
+of the government of Tobolsk. Omsk was threatened. They spoke of an
+engagement which had taken place between the Siberian and Tartar troops
+on the frontier of the great Kirghese horde--an engagement not to the
+advantage of the Russians, who were weak in numbers. The troops had
+retreated thence, and in consequence there had been a general emigration
+of all the peasants of the province. The boatmen spoke of horrible
+atrocities committed by the invaders--pillage, theft, incendiarism,
+murder. Such was the system of Tartar warfare.
+
+The people all fled before Feofar-Khan. Michael Strogoff's great fear
+was lest, in the depopulation of the towns, he should be unable to
+obtain the means of transport. He was therefore extremely anxious to
+reach Omsk. Perhaps there they would get the start of the Tartar scouts,
+who were coming down the valley of the Irtych, and would find the road
+open to Irkutsk.
+
+Just at the place where the tarantass crossed the river ended what is
+called, in military language, the "Ichim chain"--a chain of towers, or
+little wooden forts, extending from the southern frontier of Siberia
+for a distance of nearly four hundred versts. Formerly these forts were
+occupied by detachments of Cossacks, and they protected the country
+against the Kirghese, as well as against the Tartars. But since the
+Muscovite Government had believed these hordes reduced to absolute
+submission, they had been abandoned, and now could not be used; just at
+the time when they were needed. Many of these forts had been reduced to
+ashes; and the boatmen even pointed out the smoke to Michael, rising
+in the southern horizon, and showing the approach of the Tartar
+advance-guard.
+
+As soon as the ferryboat landed the tarantass on the right bank of the
+Ichim, the journey across the steppe was resumed with all speed. Michael
+Strogoff remained very silent. He was, however, always attentive to
+Nadia, helping her to bear the fatigue of this long journey without
+break or rest; but the girl never complained. She longed to give wings
+to the horses. Something told her that her companion was even more
+anxious than herself to reach Irkutsk; and how many versts were still
+between!
+
+It also occurred to her that if Omsk was entered by the Tartars,
+Michael's mother, who lived there, would be in danger, and that this was
+sufficient to explain her son's impatience to get to her.
+
+Nadia at last spoke to him of old Marfa, and of how unprotected she
+would be in the midst of all these events.
+
+"Have you received any news of your mother since the beginning of the
+invasion?" she asked.
+
+"None, Nadia. The last letter my mother wrote to me contained good news.
+Marfa is a brave and energetic Siberian woman. Notwithstanding her age,
+she has preserved all her moral strength. She knows how to suffer."
+
+"I shall see her, brother," said Nadia quickly. "Since you give me the
+name of sister, I am Marfa's daughter."
+
+And as Michael did not answer she added:
+
+"Perhaps your mother has been able to leave Omsk?"
+
+"It is possible, Nadia," replied Michael; "and I hope she may have
+reached Tobolsk. Marfa hates the Tartars. She knows the steppe, and
+would have no fear in just taking her staff and going down the banks of
+the Irtych. There is not a spot in all the province unknown to her. Many
+times has she traveled all over the country with my father; and many
+times I myself, when a mere child, have accompanied them across the
+Siberian desert. Yes, Nadia, I trust that my mother has left Omsk."
+
+"And when shall you see her?"
+
+"I shall see her--on my return."
+
+"If, however, your mother is still at Omsk, you will be able to spare an
+hour to go to her?"
+
+"I shall not go and see her."
+
+"You will not see her?"
+
+"No, Nadia," said Michael, his chest heaving as he felt he could not go
+on replying to the girl's questions.
+
+"You say no! Why, brother, if your mother is still at Omsk, for what
+reason could you refuse to see her?"
+
+"For what reason, Nadia? You ask me for what reason," exclaimed Michael,
+in so changed a voice that the young girl started. "For the same reason
+as that which made me patient even to cowardice with the villain who--"
+He could not finish his sentence.
+
+"Calm yourself, brother," said Nadia in a gentle voice. "I only know
+one thing, or rather I do not know it, I feel it. It is that all your
+conduct is now directed by the sentiment of a duty more sacred--if there
+can be one--than that which unites the son to the mother."
+
+Nadia was silent, and from that moment avoided every subject which in
+any way touched on Michael's peculiar situation. He had a secret motive
+which she must respect. She respected it.
+
+The next day, July 25th, at three o'clock in the morning, the tarantass
+arrived at Tioukalmsk, having accomplished a distance of eighty miles
+since it had crossed the Ichim. They rapidly changed horses. Here,
+however, for the first time, the iemschik made difficulties about
+starting, declaring that detachments of Tartars were roving across the
+steppe, and that travelers, horses, and carriages would be a fine prize
+for them.
+
+Only by dint of a large bribe could Michael get over the unwillingness
+of the iemschik, for in this instance, as in many others, he did not
+wish to show his podorojna. The last ukase, having been transmitted by
+telegraph, was known in the Siberian provinces; and a Russian specially
+exempted from obeying these words would certainly have drawn public
+attention to himself--a thing above all to be avoided by the Czar's
+courier. As to the iemschik's hesitation, either the rascal traded on
+the traveler's impatience or he really had good reason to fear.
+
+However, at last the tarantass started, and made such good way that by
+three in the afternoon it had reached Koulatsinskoe, fifty miles farther
+on. An hour after this it was on the banks of the Irtych. Omsk was now
+only fourteen miles distant.
+
+The Irtych is a large river, and one of the principal of those which
+flow towards the north of Asia. Rising in the Altai Mountains, it flows
+from the southeast to the northwest and empties itself into the Obi,
+after a course of four thousand miles.
+
+At this time of year, when all the rivers of the Siberian basin are much
+swollen, the waters of the Irtych were very high. In consequence
+the current was changed to a regular torrent, rendering the passage
+difficult enough. A swimmer could not have crossed, however powerful;
+and even in a ferryboat there would be some danger.
+
+But Michael and Nadia, determined to brave all perils whatever they
+might be, did not dream of shrinking from this one. Michael proposed
+to his young companion that he should cross first, embarking in the
+ferryboat with the tarantass and horses, as he feared that the weight of
+this load would render it less safe. After landing the carriage he would
+return and fetch Nadia.
+
+The girl refused. It would be the delay of an hour, and she would not,
+for her safety alone, be the cause of it.
+
+The embarkation was made not without difficulty, for the banks were
+partly flooded and the boat could not get in near enough. However, after
+half an hour's exertion, the boatmen got the tarantass and the three
+horses on board. The passengers embarked also, and they shoved off.
+
+For a few minutes all went well. A little way up the river the current
+was broken by a long point projecting from the bank, and forming an eddy
+easily crossed by the boat. The two boatmen propelled their barge with
+long poles, which they handled cleverly; but as they gained the middle
+of the stream it grew deeper and deeper, until at last they could only
+just reach the bottom. The ends of the poles were only a foot above the
+water, which rendered their use difficult. Michael and Nadia, seated
+in the stern of the boat, and always in dread of a delay, watched the
+boatmen with some uneasiness.
+
+"Look out!" cried one of them to his comrade.
+
+The shout was occasioned by the new direction the boat was rapidly
+taking. It had got into the direct current and was being swept down the
+river. By diligent use of the poles, putting the ends in a series of
+notches cut below the gunwale, the boatmen managed to keep the craft
+against the stream, and slowly urged it in a slanting direction towards
+the right bank.
+
+They calculated on reaching it some five or six versts below the landing
+place; but, after all, that would not matter so long as men and beasts
+could disembark without accident. The two stout boatmen, stimulated
+moreover by the promise of double fare, did not doubt of succeeding in
+this difficult passage of the Irtych.
+
+But they reckoned without an accident which they were powerless to
+prevent, and neither their zeal nor their skill-fulness could, under the
+circumstances, have done more.
+
+The boat was in the middle of the current, at nearly equal distances
+from either shore, and being carried down at the rate of two versts an
+hour, when Michael, springing to his feet, bent his gaze up the river.
+
+Several boats, aided by oars as well as by the current, were coming
+swiftly down upon them.
+
+Michael's brow contracted, and a cry escaped him.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked the girl.
+
+But before Michael had time to reply one of the boatmen exclaimed in an
+accent of terror:
+
+"The Tartars! the Tartars!"
+
+There were indeed boats full of soldiers, and in a few minutes they must
+reach the ferryboat, it being too heavily laden to escape from them.
+
+The terrified boatmen uttered exclamations of despair and dropped their
+poles.
+
+"Courage, my friends!" cried Michael; "courage! Fifty roubles for you if
+we reach the right bank before the boats overtake us."
+
+Incited by these words, the boatmen again worked manfully but it soon
+become evident that they could not escape the Tartars.
+
+It was scarcely probable that they would pass without attacking them.
+On the contrary, there was everything to be feared from robbers such as
+these.
+
+"Do not be afraid, Nadia," said Michael; "but be ready for anything."
+
+"I am ready," replied Nadia.
+
+"Even to leap into the water when I tell you?"
+
+"Whenever you tell me."
+
+"Have confidence in me, Nadia."
+
+"I have, indeed!"
+
+The Tartar boats were now only a hundred feet distant. They carried a
+detachment of Bokharian soldiers, on their way to reconnoiter around
+Omsk.
+
+The ferryboat was still two lengths from the shore. The boatmen
+redoubled their efforts. Michael himself seized a pole and wielded it
+with superhuman strength. If he could land the tarantass and horses, and
+dash off with them, there was some chance of escaping the Tartars, who
+were not mounted.
+
+But all their efforts were in vain. "Saryn na kitchou!" shouted the
+soldiers from the first boat.
+
+Michael recognized the Tartar war-cry, which is usually answered by
+lying flat on the ground. As neither he nor the boatmen obeyed a volley
+was let fly, and two of the horses were mortally wounded.
+
+At the next moment a violent blow was felt. The boats had run into the
+ferryboat.
+
+"Come, Nadia!" cried Michael, ready to jump overboard.
+
+The girl was about to follow him, when a blow from a lance struck him,
+and he was thrown into the water. The current swept him away, his hand
+raised for an instant above the waves, and then he disappeared.
+
+Nadia uttered a cry, but before she had time to throw herself after
+him she was seized and dragged into one of the boats. The boatmen were
+killed, the ferryboat left to drift away, and the Tartars continued to
+descend the Irtych.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV MOTHER AND SON
+
+OMSK is the official capital of Western Siberia. It is not the most
+important city of the government of that name, for Tomsk has more
+inhabitants and is larger. But it is at Omsk that the Governor-General
+of this the first half of Asiatic Russia resides. Omsk, properly so
+called, is composed of two distinct towns: one which is exclusively
+inhabited by the authorities and officials; the other more especially
+devoted to the Siberian merchants, although, indeed, the trade of the
+town is of small importance.
+
+This city has about 12,000 to 13,000 inhabitants. It is defended by
+walls, but these are merely of earth, and could afford only insufficient
+protection. The Tartars, who were well aware of this fact, consequently
+tried at this period to carry it by main force, and in this they
+succeeded, after an investment of a few days.
+
+The garrison of Omsk, reduced to two thousand men, resisted valiantly.
+But driven back, little by little, from the mercantile portion of the
+place, they were compelled to take refuge in the upper town.
+
+It was there that the Governor-General, his officers, and soldiers had
+entrenched themselves. They had made the upper quarter of Omsk a kind of
+citadel, and hitherto they held out well in this species of improvised
+"kreml," but without much hope of the promised succor. The Tartar
+troops, who were descending the Irtych, received every day fresh
+reinforcements, and, what was more serious, they were led by an officer,
+a traitor to his country, but a man of much note, and of an audacity
+equal to any emergency. This man was Colonel Ivan Ogareff.
+
+Ivan Ogareff, terrible as any of the most savage Tartar chieftains,
+was an educated soldier. Possessing on his mother's side some Mongolian
+blood, he delighted in deceptive strategy and ambuscades, stopping short
+of nothing when he desired to fathom some secret or to set some trap.
+Deceitful by nature, he willingly had recourse to the vilest trickery;
+lying when occasion demanded, excelling in the adoption of all disguises
+and in every species of deception. Further, he was cruel, and had even
+acted as an executioner. Feofar-Khan possessed in him a lieutenant well
+capable of seconding his designs in this savage war.
+
+When Michael Strogoff arrived on the banks of the Irtych, Ivan Ogareff
+was already master of Omsk, and was pressing the siege of the upper
+quarter of the town all the more eagerly because he must hasten to
+Tomsk, where the main body of the Tartar army was concentrated.
+
+Tomsk, in fact, had been taken by Feofar-Khan some days previously, and
+it was thence that the invaders, masters of Central Siberia, were to
+march upon Irkutsk.
+
+Irkutsk was the real object of Ivan Ogareff. The plan of the traitor was
+to reach the Grand Duke under a false name, to gain his confidence, and
+to deliver into Tartar hands the town and the Grand Duke himself. With
+such a town, and such a hostage, all Asiatic Siberia must necessarily
+fall into the hands of the invaders. Now it was known that the Czar
+was acquainted with this conspiracy, and that it was for the purpose
+of baffling it that a courier had been intrusted with the important
+warning. Hence, therefore, the very stringent instructions which had
+been given to the young courier to pass incognito through the invaded
+district.
+
+This mission he had so far faithfully performed, but now could he carry
+it to a successful completion?
+
+The blow which had struck Michael Strogoff was not mortal. By swimming
+in a manner by which he had effectually concealed himself, he had
+reached the right bank, where he fell exhausted among the bushes.
+
+When he recovered his senses, he found himself in the cabin of a mujik,
+who had picked him up and cared for him. For how long a time had he been
+the guest of this brave Siberian? He could not guess. But when he
+opened his eyes he saw the handsome bearded face bending over him, and
+regarding him with pitying eyes. "Do not speak, little father," said the
+mujik, "Do not speak! Thou art still too weak. I will tell thee where
+thou art and everything that has passed."
+
+And the mujik related to Michael Strogoff the different incidents of the
+struggle which he had witnessed--the attack upon the ferry by the Tartar
+boats, the pillage of the tarantass, and the massacre of the boatmen.
+
+But Michael Strogoff listened no longer, and slipping his hand under
+his garment he felt the imperial letter still secured in his breast. He
+breathed a sigh of relief.
+
+But that was not all. "A young girl accompanied me," said he.
+
+"They have not killed her," replied the mujik, anticipating the anxiety
+which he read in the eyes of his guest. "They have carried her off in
+their boat, and have continued the descent of Irtych. It is only one
+prisoner more to join the many they are taking to Tomsk!"
+
+Michael Strogoff was unable to reply. He pressed his hand upon his heart
+to restrain its beating. But, notwithstanding these many trials, the
+sentiment of duty mastered his whole soul. "Where am I?" asked he.
+
+"Upon the right bank of the Irtych, only five versts from Omsk," replied
+the mujik.
+
+"What wound can I have received which could have thus prostrated me? It
+was not a gunshot wound?"
+
+"No; a lance-thrust in the head, now healing," replied the mujik. "After
+a few days' rest, little father, thou wilt be able to proceed. Thou
+didst fall into the river; but the Tartars neither touched nor searched
+thee; and thy purse is still in thy pocket."
+
+Michael Strogoff gripped the mujik's hand. Then, recovering himself with
+a sudden effort, "Friend," said he, "how long have I been in thy hut?"
+
+"Three days."
+
+"Three days lost!"
+
+"Three days hast thou lain unconscious."
+
+"Hast thou a horse to sell me?"
+
+"Thou wishest to go?"
+
+"At once."
+
+"I have neither horse nor carriage, little father. Where the Tartar has
+passed there remains nothing!"
+
+"Well, I will go on foot to Omsk to find a horse."
+
+"A few more hours of rest, and thou wilt be in a better condition to
+pursue thy journey."
+
+"Not an hour!"
+
+"Come now," replied the mujik, recognizing the fact that it was useless
+to struggle against the will of his guest, "I will guide thee myself.
+Besides," he added, "the Russians are still in great force at Omsk, and
+thou couldst, perhaps, pass unperceived."
+
+"Friend," replied Michael Strogoff, "Heaven reward thee for all thou
+hast done for me!"
+
+"Only fools expect reward on earth," replied the mujik.
+
+Michael Strogoff went out of the hut. When he tried to walk he was
+seized with such faintness that, without the assistance of the mujik, he
+would have fallen; but the fresh air quickly revived him. He then felt
+the wound in his head, the violence of which his fur cap had lessened.
+With the energy which he possessed, he was not a man to succumb under
+such a trifle. Before his eyes lay a single goal--far-distant Irkutsk.
+He must reach it! But he must pass through Omsk without stopping there.
+
+"God protect my mother and Nadia!" he murmured. "I have no longer the
+right to think of them!"
+
+Michael Strogoff and the mujik soon arrived in the mercantile quarter
+of the lower town. The surrounding earthwork had been destroyed in many
+places, and there were the breaches through which the marauders who
+followed the armies of Feofar-Khan had penetrated. Within Omsk, in its
+streets and squares, the Tartar soldiers swarmed like ants; but it was
+easy to see that a hand of iron imposed upon them a discipline to which
+they were little accustomed. They walked nowhere alone, but in armed
+groups, to defend themselves against surprise.
+
+In the chief square, transformed into a camp, guarded by many sentries,
+2,000 Tartars bivouacked. The horses, picketed but still saddled,
+were ready to start at the first order. Omsk could only be a temporary
+halting-place for this Tartar cavalry, which preferred the rich
+plains of Eastern Siberia, where the towns were more wealthy, and,
+consequently, pillage more profitable.
+
+Above the mercantile town rose the upper quarter, which Ivan Ogareff,
+notwithstanding several assaults vigorously made but bravely repelled,
+had not yet been able to reduce. Upon its embattled walls floated the
+national colors of Russia.
+
+It was not without a legitimate pride that Michael Strogoff and his
+guide, vowing fidelity, saluted them.
+
+Michael Strogoff was perfectly acquainted with the town of Omsk, and he
+took care to avoid those streets which were much frequented. This was
+not from any fear of being recognized. In the town his old mother only
+could have called him by name, but he had sworn not to see her, and he
+did not. Besides--and he wished it with his whole heart--she might have
+fled into some quiet portion of the steppe.
+
+The mujik very fortunately knew a postmaster who, if well paid, would
+not refuse at his request either to let or to sell a carriage or horses.
+There remained the difficulty of leaving the town, but the breaches in
+the fortifications would, of course, facilitate his departure.
+
+The mujik was accordingly conducting his guest straight to the
+posting-house, when, in a narrow street, Michael Strogoff, coming to a
+sudden stop sprang behind a jutting wall.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked the astonished mujik.
+
+"Silence!" replied Michael, with his finger on his lips. At this moment
+a detachment debouched from the principal square into the street which
+Michael Strogoff and his companion had just been following.
+
+At the head of the detachment, composed of twenty horsemen, was an
+officer dressed in a very simple uniform. Although he glanced rapidly
+from one side to the other he could not have seen Michael Strogoff,
+owing to his precipitous retreat.
+
+The detachment went at full trot into the narrow street. Neither the
+officer nor his escort concerned themselves about the inhabitants.
+Several unlucky ones had scarcely time to make way for their passage.
+There were a few half-stifled cries, to which thrusts of the lance gave
+an instant reply, and the street was immediately cleared.
+
+When the escort had disappeared, "Who is that officer?" asked Michael
+Strogoff. And while putting the question his face was pale as that of a
+corpse.
+
+"It is Ivan Ogareff," replied the Siberian, in a deep voice which
+breathed hatred.
+
+"He!" cried Michael Strogoff, from whom the word escaped with a fury he
+could not conquer. He had just recognized in this officer the traveler
+who had struck him at the posting-house of Ichim. And, although he had
+only caught a glimpse of him, it burst upon his mind, at the same time,
+that this traveler was the old Zingari whose words he had overheard in
+the market place of Nijni-Novgorod.
+
+Michael Strogoff was not mistaken. The two men were one and the same.
+It was under the garb of a Zingari, mingling with the band of Sangarre,
+that Ivan Ogareff had been able to leave the town of Nijni-Novgorod,
+where he had gone to seek his confidants. Sangarre and her Zingari, well
+paid spies, were absolutely devoted to him. It was he who, during the
+night, on the fair-ground had uttered that singular sentence, which
+Michael Strogoff could not understand; it was he who was voyaging on
+board the Caucasus, with the whole of the Bohemian band; it was he who,
+by this other route, from Kasan to Ichim, across the Urals, had reached
+Omsk, where now he held supreme authority.
+
+Ivan Ogareff had been barely three days at Omsk, and had it not been for
+their fatal meeting at Ichim, and for the event which had detained
+him three days on the banks of the Irtych, Michael Strogoff would have
+evidently beaten him on the way to Irkutsk.
+
+And who knows how many misfortunes would have been avoided in the
+future! In any case--and now more than ever--Michael Strogoff must
+avoid Ivan Ogareff, and contrive not to be seen. When the moment of
+encountering him face to face should arrive, he knew how to meet it,
+even should the traitor be master of the whole of Siberia.
+
+The mujik and Michael resumed their way and arrived at the
+posting-house. To leave Omsk by one of the breaches would not be
+difficult after nightfall. As for purchasing a carriage to replace the
+tarantass, that was impossible. There were none to be let or sold. But
+what want had Michael Strogoff now for a carriage? Was he not alone,
+alas? A horse would suffice him; and, very fortunately, a horse could
+be had. It was an animal of strength and mettle, and Michael Strogoff,
+accomplished horseman as he was, could make good use of it.
+
+It was four o'clock in the afternoon. Michael Strogoff, compelled
+to wait till nightfall, in order to pass the fortifications, but not
+desiring to show himself, remained in the posting-house, and there
+partook of food.
+
+There was a great crowd in the public room. They were talking of the
+expected arrival of a corps of Muscovite troops, not at Omsk, but at
+Tomsk--a corps intended to recapture that town from the Tartars of
+Feofar-Khan.
+
+Michael Strogoff lent an attentive ear, but took no part in the
+conversation. Suddenly a cry made him tremble, a cry which penetrated
+to the depths of his soul, and these two words rushed into his ear: "My
+son!"
+
+His mother, the old woman Marfa, was before him! Trembling, she smiled
+upon him. She stretched forth her arms to him. Michael Strogoff arose.
+He was about to throw himself--
+
+The thought of duty, the serious danger for his mother and himself in
+this unfortunate meeting, suddenly stopped him, and such was his command
+over himself that not a muscle of his face moved. There were twenty
+people in the public room. Among them were, perhaps, spies, and was it
+not known in the town that the son of Marfa Strogoff belonged to the
+corps of the couriers of the Czar?
+
+Michael Strogoff did not move.
+
+"Michael!" cried his mother.
+
+"Who are you, my good lady?" Michael Strogoff stammered, unable to speak
+in his usual firm tone.
+
+"Who am I, thou askest! Dost thou no longer know thy mother?"
+
+"You are mistaken," coldly replied Michael Strogoff. "A resemblance
+deceives you."
+
+The old Marfa went up to him, and, looking straight into his eyes, said,
+"Thou art not the son of Peter and Marfa Strogoff?"
+
+Michael Strogoff would have given his life to have locked his mother in
+his arms; but if he yielded it was all over with him, with her, with
+his mission, with his oath! Completely master of himself, he closed his
+eyes, in order not to see the inexpressible anguish which agitated the
+revered countenance of his mother. He drew back his hands, in order not
+to touch those trembling hands which sought him. "I do not know in truth
+what it is you say, my good woman," he replied, stepping back.
+
+"Michael!" again cried his aged mother.
+
+"My name is not Michael. I never was your son! I am Nicholas Korpanoff,
+a merchant at Irkutsk."
+
+And suddenly he left the public room, whilst for the last time the words
+re-echoed, "My son! my son!"
+
+Michael Strogoff, by a desperate effort, had gone. He did not see his
+old mother, who had fallen back almost inanimate upon a bench. But when
+the postmaster hastened to assist her, the aged woman raised herself.
+Suddenly a thought occurred to her. She denied by her son! It was not
+possible. As for being herself deceived, and taking another for him,
+equally impossible. It was certainly her son whom she had just seen; and
+if he had not recognized her it was because he would not, it was because
+he ought not, it was because he had some cogent reasons for acting thus!
+And then, her mother's feelings arising within her, she had only one
+thought--"Can I, unwittingly, have ruined him?"
+
+"I am mad," she said to her interrogators. "My eyes have deceived me!
+This young man is not my child. He had not his voice. Let us think no
+more of it; if we do I shall end by finding him everywhere."
+
+Less than ten minutes afterwards a Tartar officer appeared in the
+posting-house. "Marfa Strogoff?" he asked.
+
+"It is I," replied the old woman, in a tone so calm, and with a face so
+tranquil, that those who had witnessed the meeting with her son would
+not have known her.
+
+"Come," said the officer.
+
+Marfa Strogoff, with firm step, followed the Tartar. Some moments
+afterwards she found herself in the chief square in the presence of
+Ivan Ogareff, to whom all the details of this scene had been immediately
+reported.
+
+Ogareff, suspecting the truth, interrogated the old Siberian woman. "Thy
+name?" he asked in a rough voice.
+
+"Marfa Strogoff."
+
+"Thou hast a son?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"He is a courier of the Czar?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"At Moscow."
+
+"Thou hast no news of him?"
+
+"No news."
+
+"Since how long?"
+
+"Since two months."
+
+"Who, then, was that young man whom thou didst call thy son a few
+moments ago at the posting-house?"
+
+"A young Siberian whom I took for him," replied Marfa Strogoff. "This is
+the tenth man in whom I have thought I recognized my son since the town
+has been so full of strangers. I think I see him everywhere."
+
+"So this young man was not Michael Strogoff?"
+
+"It was not Michael Strogoff."
+
+"Dost thou know, old woman, that I can torture thee until thou avowest
+the truth?"
+
+"I have spoken the truth, and torture will not cause me to alter my
+words in any way."
+
+"This Siberian was not Michael Strogoff?" asked a second time Ivan
+Ogareff.
+
+"No, it was not he," replied a second time Marfa Strogoff. "Do you think
+that for anything in the world I would deny a son whom God has given
+me?"
+
+Ivan Ogareff regarded with an evil eye the old woman who braved him to
+the face. He did not doubt but that she had recognized her son in this
+young Siberian. Now if this son had first renounced his mother, and if
+his mother renounced him in her turn, it could occur only from the
+most weighty motive. Ogareff had therefore no doubt that the pretended
+Nicholas Korpanoff was Michael Strogoff, courier of the Czar, seeking
+concealment under a false name, and charged with some mission which it
+would have been important for him to know. He therefore at once gave
+orders for his pursuit. Then "Let this woman be conducted to Tomsk," he
+said.
+
+While the soldiers brutally dragged her off, he added between his teeth,
+"When the moment arrives I shall know how to make her speak, this old
+sorceress!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV THE MARSHES OF THE BARABA
+
+IT was fortunate that Michael Strogoff had left the posting-house so
+promptly. The orders of Ivan Ogareff had been immediately transmitted to
+all the approaches of the city, and a full description of Michael sent
+to all the various commandants, in order to prevent his departure from
+Omsk. But he had already passed through one of the breaches in the wall;
+his horse was galloping over the steppe, and the chances of escape were
+in his favor.
+
+It was on the 29th of July, at eight o'clock in the evening, that
+Michael Strogoff had left Omsk. This town is situated about halfway
+between Moscow and Irkutsk, where it was necessary that he should arrive
+within ten days if he wished to get ahead of the Tartar columns. It was
+evident that the unlucky chance which had brought him into the presence
+of his mother had betrayed his incognito. Ivan Ogareff was no longer
+ignorant of the fact that a courier of the Czar had just passed Omsk,
+taking the direction of Irkutsk. The dispatches which this courier bore
+must have been of immense importance. Michael Strogoff knew, therefore,
+that every effort would be made to capture him.
+
+But what he did not know, and could not know, was that Marfa Strogoff
+was in the hands of Ivan Ogareff, and that she was about to atone,
+perhaps with her life, for that natural exhibition of her feelings which
+she had been unable to restrain when she suddenly found herself in the
+presence of her son. And it was fortunate that he was ignorant of it.
+Could he have withstood this fresh trial?
+
+Michael Strogoff urged on his horse, imbuing him with all his own
+feverish impatience, requiring of him one thing only, namely, to bear
+him rapidly to the next posting-house, where he could be exchanged for a
+quicker conveyance.
+
+At midnight he had cleared fifty miles, and halted at the station of
+Koulikovo. But there, as he had feared, he found neither horses nor
+carriages. Several Tartar detachments had passed along the highway of
+the steppe. Everything had been stolen or requisitioned both in the
+villages and in the posting-houses. It was with difficulty that Michael
+Strogoff was even able to obtain some refreshment for his horse and
+himself.
+
+It was of great importance, therefore, to spare his horse, for he could
+not tell when or how he might be able to replace it. Desiring, however,
+to put the greatest possible distance between himself and the horsemen
+who had no doubt been dispatched in pursuit, he resolved to push on.
+After one hour's rest he resumed his course across the steppe.
+
+Hitherto the weather had been propitious for his journey. The
+temperature was endurable. The nights at this time of the year are very
+short, and as they are lighted by the moon, the route over the steppe is
+practicable. Michael Strogoff, moreover, was a man certain of his
+road and devoid of doubt or hesitation, and in spite of the melancholy
+thoughts which possessed him he had preserved his clearness of mind, and
+made for his destined point as though it were visible upon the horizon.
+When he did halt for a moment at some turn in the road it was to breathe
+his horse. Now he would dismount to ease his steed for a moment, and
+again he would place his ear to the ground to listen for the sound of
+galloping horses upon the steppe. Nothing arousing his suspicions, he
+resumed his way.
+
+On the 30th of July, at nine o'clock in the morning, Michael Strogoff
+passed through the station of Touroumoff and entered the swampy district
+of the Baraba.
+
+There, for a distance of three hundred versts, the natural obstacles
+would be extremely great. He knew this, but he also knew that he would
+certainly surmount them.
+
+These vast marshes of the Baraba, form the reservoir to all the
+rain-water which finds no outlet either towards the Obi or towards the
+Irtych. The soil of this vast depression is entirely argillaceous, and
+therefore impermeable, so that the waters remain there and make of it
+a region very difficult to cross during the hot season. There, however,
+lies the way to Irkutsk, and it is in the midst of ponds, pools, lakes,
+and swamps, from which the sun draws poisonous exhalations, that the
+road winds, and entails upon the traveler the greatest fatigue and
+danger.
+
+Michael Strogoff spurred his horse into the midst of a grassy prairie,
+differing greatly from the close-cropped sod of the steppe, where feed
+the immense Siberian herds. The grass here was five or six feet in
+height, and had made room for swamp-plants, to which the dampness of
+the place, assisted by the heat of summer, had given giant proportions.
+These were principally canes and rushes, which formed a tangled network,
+an impenetrable undergrowth, sprinkled everywhere with a thousand
+flowers remarkable for the brightness of their color.
+
+Michael Strogoff, galloping amongst this undergrowth of cane, was no
+longer visible from the swamps which bordered the road. The tall grass
+rose above him, and his track was indicated only by the flight of
+innumerable aquatic birds, which rose from the side of the road and
+dispersed into the air in screaming flocks.
+
+The way, however, was clearly traceable. Now it would lie straight
+between the dense thicket of marsh-plants; again it would follow the
+winding shores of vast pools, some of which, several versts in length
+and breadth, deserve the name of lakes. In other localities the stagnant
+waters through which the road lay had been avoided, not by bridges, but
+by tottering platforms ballasted with thick layers of clay, whose
+joists shook like a too weak plank thrown across an abyss. Some of these
+platforms extended over three hundred feet, and travelers by tarantass,
+when crossing them have experienced a nausea like sea-sickness.
+
+Michael Strogoff, whether the soil beneath his feet was solid or whether
+it sank under him, galloped on without halt, leaping the space between
+the rotten joists; but however fast they traveled the horse and the
+horseman were unable to escape from the sting of the two-winged insects
+which infest this marshy country.
+
+Travelers who are obliged to cross the Baraba during the summer take
+care to provide themselves with masks of horse-hair, to which is
+attached a coat of mail of very fine wire, which covers their shoulders.
+Notwithstanding these precautions, there are few who come out of these
+marshes without having their faces, necks, and hands covered with red
+spots. The atmosphere there seems to bristle with fine needles, and one
+would almost say that a knight's armor would not protect him against
+the darts of these dipterals. It is a dreary region, which man dearly
+disputes with tipulae, gnats, mosquitos, horse-flies, and millions
+of microscopic insects which are not visible to the naked eye;
+but, although they are not seen, they make themselves felt by their
+intolerable stinging, to which the most callous Siberian hunters have
+never been able to inure themselves.
+
+Michael Strogoff's horse, stung by these venomous insects, sprang
+forward as if the rowels of a thousand spurs had pierced his flanks.
+Mad with rage, he tore along over verst after verst with the speed of an
+express train, lashing his sides with his tail, seeking by the rapidity
+of his pace an alleviation of his torture.
+
+It required as good a horseman as Michael Strogoff not to be thrown by
+the plungings of his horse, and the sudden stops and bounds which
+he made to escape from the stings of his persecutors. Having become
+insensible, so to speak, to physical suffering, possessed only with the
+one desire to arrive at his destination at whatever cost, he saw during
+this mad race only one thing--that the road flew rapidly behind him.
+
+Who would have thought that this district of the Baraba, so unhealthy
+during the summer, could have afforded an asylum for human beings? Yet
+it did so. Several Siberian hamlets appeared from time to time among
+the giant canes. Men, women, children, and old men, clad in the skins
+of beasts, their faces covered with hardened blisters of skin, pastured
+their poor herds of sheep. In order to preserve the animals from the
+attack of the insects, they drove them to the leeward of fires of green
+wood, which were kept burning night and day, and the pungent smoke of
+which floated over the vast swamp.
+
+When Michael Strogoff perceived that his horse, tired out, was on the
+point of succumbing, he halted at one of these wretched hamlets, and
+there, forgetting his own fatigue, he himself rubbed the wounds of the
+poor animal with hot grease according to the Siberian custom; then he
+gave him a good feed; and it was only after he had well groomed and
+provided for him that he thought of himself, and recruited his strength
+by a hasty meal of bread and meat and a glass of kwass. One hour
+afterwards, or at the most two, he resumed with all speed the
+interminable road to Irkutsk.
+
+On the 30th of July, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Michael Strogoff,
+insensible of every fatigue, arrived at Elamsk. There it became
+necessary to give a night's rest to his horse. The brave animal could no
+longer have continued the journey. At Elamsk, as indeed elsewhere, there
+existed no means of transport,--for the same reasons as at the previous
+villages, neither carriages nor horses were to be had.
+
+Michael Strogoff resigned himself therefore to pass the night at Elamsk,
+to give his horse twelve hours' rest. He recalled the instructions which
+had been given to him at Moscow--to cross Siberia incognito, to arrive
+at Irkutsk, but not to sacrifice success to the rapidity of the journey;
+and consequently it was necessary that he should husband the sole means
+of transport which remained to him.
+
+On the morrow, Michael Strogoff left Elamsk at the moment when the
+first Tartar scouts were signaled ten versts behind upon the road to the
+Baraba, and he plunged again into the swampy region. The road was
+level, which made it easy, but very tortuous, and therefore long. It was
+impossible, moreover, to leave it, and to strike a straight line across
+that impassable network of pools and bogs.
+
+On the next day, the 1st of August, eighty miles farther, Michael
+Strogoff arrived at midday at the town of Spaskoe, and at two o'clock he
+halted at Pokrowskoe. His horse, jaded since his departure from Elamsk,
+could not have taken a single step more.
+
+There Michael Strogoff was again compelled to lose, for necessary rest,
+the end of that day and the entire night; but starting again on the
+following morning, and still traversing the semi-inundated soil, on the
+2nd of August, at four o'clock in the afternoon, after a stage of fifty
+miles he reached Kamsk.
+
+The country had changed. This little village of Kamsk lies, like
+an island, habitable and healthy, in the midst of the uninhabitable
+district. It is situated in the very center of the Baraba. The
+emigration caused by the Tartar invasion had not yet depopulated this
+little town of Kamsk. Its inhabitants probably fancied themselves safe
+in the center of the Baraba, whence at least they thought they would
+have time to flee if they were directly menaced.
+
+Michael Strogoff, although exceedingly anxious for news, could ascertain
+nothing at this place. It would have been rather to him that the
+Governor would have addressed himself had he known who the pretended
+merchant of Irkutsk really was. Kamsk, in fact, by its very situation
+seemed to be outside the Siberian world and the grave events which
+troubled it.
+
+Besides, Michael Strogoff showed himself little, if at all. To be
+unperceived was not now enough for him: he would have wished to be
+invisible. The experience of the past made him more and more circumspect
+in the present and the future. Therefore he secluded himself, and not
+caring to traverse the streets of the village, he would not even leave
+the inn at which he had halted.
+
+As for his horse, he did not even think of exchanging him for another
+animal. He had become accustomed to this brave creature. He knew to what
+extent he could rely upon him. In buying him at Omsk he had been lucky,
+and in taking him to the postmaster the generous mujik had rendered
+him a great service. Besides, if Michael Strogoff had already become
+attached to his horse, the horse himself seemed to become inured, by
+degrees, to the fatigue of such a journey, and provided that he got
+several hours of repose daily, his rider might hope that he would carry
+him beyond the invaded provinces.
+
+So, during the evening and night of the 2nd of August, Michael Strogoff
+remained confined to his inn, at the entrance of the town; which was
+little frequented and out of the way of the importunate and curious.
+
+Exhausted with fatigue, he went to bed after having seen that his horse
+lacked nothing; but his sleep was broken. What he had seen since his
+departure from Moscow showed him the importance of his mission. The
+rising was an extremely serious one, and the treachery of Ogareff made
+it still more formidable. And when his eyes fell upon the letter bearing
+upon it the authority of the imperial seal--the letter which, no
+doubt, contained the remedy for so many evils, the safety of all this
+war-ravaged country--Michael Strogoff felt within himself a fierce
+desire to dash on across the steppe, to accomplish the distance which
+separated him from Irkutsk as the crow would fly it, to be an eagle that
+he might overtop all obstacles, to be a hurricane that he might sweep
+through the air at a hundred versts an hour, and to be at last face
+to face with the Grand Duke, and to exclaim: "Your highness, from his
+Majesty the Czar!"
+
+On the next morning at six o'clock, Michael Strogoff started off again.
+Thanks to his extreme prudence this part of the journey was signalized
+by no incident whatever. At Oubinsk he gave his horse a whole night's
+rest, for he wished on the next day to accomplish the hundred versts
+which lie between Oubinsk and Ikoulskoe without halting. He started
+therefore at dawn; but unfortunately the Baraba proved more detestable
+than ever.
+
+In fact, between Oubinsk and Kamakore the very heavy rains of some
+previous weeks were retained by this shallow depression as in a
+water-tight bowl. There was, for a long distance, no break in the
+succession of swamps, pools, and lakes. One of these lakes--large enough
+to warrant its geographical nomenclature--Tchang, Chinese in name, had
+to be coasted for more than twenty versts, and this with the greatest
+difficulty. Hence certain delays occurred, which all the impatience of
+Michael Strogoff could not avoid. He had been well advised in not taking
+a carriage at Kamsk, for his horse passed places which would have been
+impracticable for a conveyance on wheels.
+
+In the evening, at nine o'clock, Michael Strogoff arrived at Ikoulskoe,
+and halted there over night. In this remote village of the Baraba news
+of the war was utterly wanting. From its situation, this part of the
+province, lying in the fork formed by the two Tartar columns which had
+bifurcated, one upon Omsk and the other upon Tomsk, had hitherto escaped
+the horrors of the invasion.
+
+But the natural obstacles were now about to disappear, for, if he
+experienced no delay, Michael Strogoff should on the morrow be free of
+the Baraba and arrive at Kolyvan. There he would be within eighty miles
+of Tomsk. He would then be guided by circumstances, and very probably
+he would decide to go around Tomsk, which, if the news were true, was
+occupied by Feofar-Khan.
+
+But if the small towns of Ikoulskoe and Karguinsk, which he passed on
+the next day, were comparatively quiet, owing to their position in the
+Baraba, was it not to be dreaded that, upon the right banks of the Obi,
+Michael Strogoff would have much more to fear from man? It was probable.
+However, should it become necessary, he would not hesitate to abandon
+the beaten path to Irkutsk. To journey then across the steppe he would,
+no doubt, run the risk of finding himself without supplies. There would
+be, in fact, no longer a well-marked road. Still, there must be no
+hesitation.
+
+Finally, towards half past three in the afternoon, Michael Strogoff left
+the last depressions of the Baraba, and the dry and hard soil of Siberia
+rang out once more beneath his horse's hoofs.
+
+He had left Moscow on the 15th of July. Therefore on this day, the 5th
+of August, including more than seventy hours lost on the banks of the
+Irtych, twenty days had gone by since his departure.
+
+One thousand miles still separated him from Irkutsk.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI A FINAL EFFORT
+
+MICHAEL'S fear of meeting the Tartars in the plains beyond the Baraba
+was by no means ungrounded. The fields, trodden down by horses' hoofs,
+afforded but too clear evidence that their hordes had passed that way;
+the same, indeed, might be said of these barbarians as of the Turks:
+"Where the Turk goes, no grass grows."
+
+Michael saw at once that in traversing this country the greatest caution
+was necessary. Wreaths of smoke curling upwards on the horizon showed
+that huts and hamlets were still burning. Had these been fired by
+the advance guard, or had the Emir's army already advanced beyond the
+boundaries of the province? Was Feofar-Khan himself in the government
+of Yeniseisk? Michael could settle on no line of action until these
+questions were answered. Was the country so deserted that he could not
+discover a single Siberian to enlighten him?
+
+Michael rode on for two versts without meeting a human being. He looked
+carefully for some house which had not been deserted. Every one was
+tenantless.
+
+One hut, however, which he could just see between the trees, was still
+smoking. As he approached he perceived, at some yards from the ruins of
+the building, an old man surrounded by weeping children. A woman still
+young, evidently his daughter and the mother of the poor children,
+kneeling on the ground, was gazing on the scene of desolation. She had
+at her breast a baby but a few months old; shortly she would have not
+even that nourishment to give it. Ruin and desolation were all around!
+
+Michael approached the old man.
+
+"Will you answer me a few questions?" he asked.
+
+"Speak," replied the old man.
+
+"Have the Tartars passed this way?"
+
+"Yes, for my house is in flames."
+
+"Was it an army or a detachment?"
+
+"An army, for, as far as eye can reach, our fields are laid waste."
+
+"Commanded by the Emir?"
+
+"By the Emir; for the Obi's waters are red."
+
+"Has Feofar-Khan entered Tomsk?"
+
+"He has."
+
+"Do you know if his men have entered Kolyvan?"
+
+"No; for Kolyvan does not yet burn."
+
+"Thanks, friend. Can I aid you and yours?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Good-by."
+
+"Farewell."
+
+And Michael, having presented five and twenty roubles to the unfortunate
+woman, who had not even strength to thank him, put spurs to his horse
+once more.
+
+One thing he knew; he must not pass through Tomsk. To go to Kolyvan,
+which the Tartars had not yet reached, was possible. Yes, that is what
+he must do; there he must prepare himself for another long stage. There
+was nothing for it but, having crossed the Obi, to take the Irkutsk road
+and avoid Tomsk.
+
+This new route decided on, Michael must not delay an instant. Nor
+did he, but, putting his horse into a steady gallop, he took the road
+towards the left bank of the Obi, which was still forty versts distant.
+Would there be a ferry boat there, or should he, finding that the
+Tartars had destroyed all the boats, be obliged to swim across?
+
+As to his horse, it was by this time pretty well worn out, and Michael
+intended to make it perform this stage only, and then to exchange it for
+a fresh one at Kolyvan. Kolyvan would be like a fresh starting point,
+for on leaving that town his journey would take a new form. So long as
+he traversed a devastated country the difficulties must be very great;
+but if, having avoided Tomsk, he could resume the road to Irkutsk across
+the province of Yeniseisk, which was not yet laid waste, he would finish
+his journey in a few days.
+
+Night came on, bringing with it refreshing coolness after the heat of
+the day. At midnight the steppe was profoundly dark. The sound of the
+horses's hoofs alone was heard on the road, except when, every now and
+then, its master spoke a few encouraging words. In such darkness as
+this great care was necessary lest he should leave the road, bordered by
+pools and streams, tributaries of the Obi. Michael therefore advanced
+as quickly as was consistent with safety. He trusted no less to
+the excellence of his eyes, which penetrated the gloom, than to the
+well-proved sagacity of his horse.
+
+Just as Michael dismounted to discover the exact direction of the road,
+he heard a confused murmuring sound from the west. It was like the
+noise of horses' hoofs at some distance on the parched ground. Michael
+listened attentively, putting his ear to the ground.
+
+"It is a detachment of cavalry coming by the road from Omsk," he said to
+himself. "They are marching very quickly, for the noise is increasing.
+Are they Russians or Tartars?"
+
+Michael again listened. "Yes," said he, "they are at a sharp trot. My
+horse cannot outstrip them. If they are Russians I will join them; if
+Tartars I must avoid them. But how? Where can I hide in this steppe?"
+
+He gave a look around, and, through the darkness, discovered a confused
+mass at a hundred paces before him on the left of the road. "There is a
+copse!" he exclaimed. "To take refuge there is to run the risk of being
+caught, if they are in search of me; but I have no choice."
+
+In a few moments Michael, dragging his horse by the bridle, reached
+a little larch wood, through which the road lay. Beyond this it was
+destitute of trees, and wound among bogs and pools, separated by
+dwarfed bushes, whins, and heather. The ground on either side was quite
+impracticable, and the detachment must necessarily pass through the
+wood. They were pursuing the high road to Irkutsk. Plunging in about
+forty feet, he was stopped by a stream running under the brushwood. But
+the shadow was so deep that Michael ran no risk of being seen, unless
+the wood should be carefully searched. He therefore led his horse to the
+stream and fastened him to a tree, returning to the edge of the road to
+listen and ascertain with what sort of people he had to do.
+
+Michael had scarcely taken up his position behind a group of larches
+when a confused light appeared, above which glared brighter lights
+waving about in the shadow.
+
+"Torches!" said he to himself. And he drew quickly back, gliding like a
+savage into the thickest underwood.
+
+As they approached the wood the horses' pace was slackened. The horsemen
+were probably lighting up the road with the intention of examining every
+turn.
+
+Michael feared this, and instinctively drew near to the bank of the
+stream, ready to plunge in if necessary.
+
+Arrived at the top of the wood, the detachment halted. The horsemen
+dismounted. There were about fifty. A dozen of them carried torches,
+lighting up the road.
+
+By watching their preparations Michael found to his joy that the
+detachment were not thinking of visiting the copse, but only bivouacking
+near, to rest their horses and allow the men to take some refreshment.
+The horses were soon unsaddled, and began to graze on the thick grass
+which carpeted the ground. The men meantime stretched themselves by the
+side of the road, and partook of the provisions they produced from their
+knapsacks.
+
+Michael's self-possession had never deserted him, and creeping amongst
+the high grass he endeavored not only to examine the new-comers, but to
+hear what they said. It was a detachment from Omsk, composed of Usbeck
+horsemen, a race of the Mongolian type. These men, well built, above
+the medium height, rough, and wild-featured, wore on their heads the
+"talpak," or black sheep-skin cap, and on their feet yellow high-heeled
+boots with turned-up toes, like the shoes of the Middle Ages. Their
+tunics were close-fitting, and confined at the waist by a leathern
+belt braided with red. They were armed defensively with a shield, and
+offensively with a curved sword, and a flintlock musket slung at the
+saddle-bow. From their shoulders hung gay-colored cloaks.
+
+The horses, which were feeding at liberty at the edge of the wood, were,
+like their masters, of the Usbeck race. These animals are rather smaller
+than the Turcomanian horses, but are possessed of remarkable strength,
+and know no other pace than the gallop.
+
+This detachment was commanded by a "pendja-baschi"; that is to say,
+a commander of fifty men, having under him a "deh-baschi," or simple
+commander of ten men. These two officers wore helmets and half
+coats-of-mail; little trumpets fastened to their saddle-bows were the
+distinctive signs of their rank.
+
+The pendja-baschi had been obliged to let his men rest, fatigued with
+a long stage. He and the second officer, smoking "beng," the leaf which
+forms the base of the "has-chisch," strolled up and down the wood, so
+that Michael Strogoff without being seen, could catch and understand
+their conversation, which was spoken in the Tartar language.
+
+Michael's attention was singularly excited by their very first words. It
+was of him they were speaking.
+
+"This courier cannot be much in advance of us," said the pendja-baschi;
+"and, on the other hand, it is absolutely impossible that he can have
+followed any other route than that of the Baraba."
+
+"Who knows if he has left Omsk?" replied the deh-baschi. "Perhaps he is
+still hidden in the town."
+
+"That is to be wished, certainly. Colonel Ogareff would have no fear
+then that the dispatches he bears should ever reach their destination."
+
+"They say that he is a native, a Siberian," resumed the deh-baschi. "If
+so, he must be well acquainted with the country, and it is possible that
+he has left the Irkutsk road, depending on rejoining it later."
+
+"But then we should be in advance of him," answered the pendja-baschi;
+"for we left Omsk within an hour after his departure, and have since
+followed the shortest road with all the speed of our horses. He has
+either remained in Omsk, or we shall arrive at Tomsk before him, so as
+to cut him off; in either case he will not reach Irkutsk."
+
+"A rugged woman, that old Siberian, who is evidently his mother," said
+the deh-baschi.
+
+At this remark Michael's heart beat violently.
+
+"Yes," answered the pendja-baschi. "She stuck to it well that the
+pretended merchant was not her son, but it was too late. Colonel Ogareff
+was not to be taken in; and, as he said, he will know how to make the
+old witch speak when the time comes."
+
+These words were so many dagger-thrusts for Michael. He was known to be
+a courier of the Czar! A detachment of horsemen on his track could not
+fail to cut him off. And, worst of all, his mother was in the hands of
+the Tartars, and the cruel Ogareff had undertaken to make her speak when
+he wished!
+
+Michael well knew that the brave Siberian would sacrifice her life for
+him. He had fancied that he could not hate Ivan Ogareff more, yet a
+fresh tide of hate now rose in his heart. The wretch who had betrayed
+his country now threatened to torture his mother.
+
+The conversation between the two officers continued, and Michael
+understood that an engagement was imminent in the neighborhood of
+Kolyvan, between the Muscovite troops coming from the north and the
+Tartars. A small Russian force of two thousand men, reported to have
+reached the lower course of the Obi, were advancing by forced marches
+towards Tomsk. If such was the case, this force, which would soon
+find itself engaged with the main body of Feofar-Khan's army, would
+be inevitably overwhelmed, and the Irkutsk road would be in the entire
+possession of the invaders.
+
+As to himself, Michael learnt, by some words from the pendja-baschi,
+that a price was set on his head, and that orders had been given to take
+him, dead or alive.
+
+It was necessary, therefore, to get the start of the Usbeck horsemen on
+the Irkutsk road, and put the Obi between himself and them. But to do
+that, he must escape before the camp was broken up.
+
+His determination taken, Michael prepared to execute it.
+
+Indeed, the halt would not be prolonged, and the pendja-baschi did not
+intend to give his men more than an hour's rest, although their horses
+could not have been changed for fresh ones since Omsk, and must be as
+much fatigued as that of Michael Strogoff.
+
+There was not a moment to lose. It was within an hour of morning. It
+was needful to profit by the darkness to leave the little wood and dash
+along the road; but although night favored it the success of such a
+flight appeared to be almost impossible.
+
+Not wishing to do anything at random, Michael took time for reflection,
+carefully weighing the chances so as to take the best. From the
+situation of the place the result was this--that he could not escape
+through the back of the wood, the stream which bordered it being not
+only deep, but very wide and muddy. Beneath this thick water was a slimy
+bog, on which the foot could not rest. There was only one way open, the
+high-road. To endeavor to reach it by creeping round the edge of the
+wood, without attracting attention, and then to gallop at headlong
+speed, required all the remaining strength and energy of his noble
+steed. Too probably it would fall dead on reaching the banks of the Obi,
+when, either by boat or by swimming, he must cross this important river.
+This was what Michael had before him.
+
+His energy and courage increased in sight of danger.
+
+His life, his mission, his country, perhaps the safety of his mother,
+were at stake. He could not hesitate.
+
+There was not a moment to be lost. Already there was a slight movement
+among the men of the detachment. A few horsemen were strolling up and
+down the road in front of the wood. The rest were still lying at the
+foot of the trees, but their horses were gradually penetrating towards
+the center of the wood.
+
+Michael had at first thought of seizing one of these horses, but he
+recollected that, of course, they would be as fatigued as his own. It
+was better to trust to his own brave steed, which had already rendered
+him such important service. The good animal, hidden behind a thicket,
+had escaped the sight of the Usbecks. They, besides, had not penetrated
+so far into the wood.
+
+Michael crawled up to his horse through the grass, and found him lying
+down. He patted and spoke gently to him, and managed to raise him
+without noise. Fortunately, the torches were entirely consumed, and
+now went out, the darkness being still profound under shelter of the
+larches. After replacing the bit, Michael looked to his girths and
+stirrups, and began to lead his horse quietly away. The intelligent
+animal followed his master without even making the least neigh.
+
+A few Usbeck horses raised their heads, and began to wander towards the
+edge of the wood. Michael held his revolver in his hand, ready to blow
+out the brains of the first Tartar who should approach him. But happily
+the alarm was not given, and he was able to gain the angle made by the
+wood where it joined the road.
+
+To avoid being seen, Michael's intention was not to mount until after
+turning a corner some two hundred feet from the wood. Unfortunately,
+just at the moment that he was issuing from the wood, an Usbeck's horse,
+scenting him, neighed and began to trot along the road. His master ran
+to catch him, and seeing a shadowy form moving in the dim light, "Look
+out!" he shouted.
+
+At the cry, all the men of the bivouac jumped up, and ran to seize their
+horses. Michael leaped on his steed, and galloped away. The two officers
+of the detachment urged on their men to follow.
+
+Michael heard a report, and felt a ball pass through his tunic. Without
+turning his head, without replying, he spurred on, and, clearing the
+brushwood with a tremendous bound, he galloped at full speed toward the
+Obi.
+
+The Usbecks' horses being unsaddled gave him a small start, but in less
+than two minutes he heard the tramp of several horses gradually gaining
+on him.
+
+Day was now beginning to break, and objects at some distance were
+becoming visible. Michael turned his head, and perceived a horseman
+rapidly approaching him. It was the deh-baschi. Being better mounted,
+this officer had distanced his detachment.
+
+Without drawing rein, Michael extended his revolver, and took a moment's
+aim. The Usbeck officer, hit in the breast, rolled on the ground.
+
+But the other horsemen followed him closely, and without waiting to
+assist the deh-baschi, exciting each other by their shouts, digging
+their spurs into their horses' sides, they gradually diminished the
+distance between themselves and Michael.
+
+For half an hour only was the latter able to keep out of range of
+the Tartars, but he well knew that his horse was becoming weaker, and
+dreaded every instant that he would stumble never to rise again.
+
+It was now light, although the sun had not yet risen above the horizon.
+Two versts distant could be seen a pale line bordered by a few trees.
+
+This was the Obi, which flows from the southwest to the northeast,
+the surface almost level with the ground, its bed being but the steppe
+itself.
+
+Several times shots were fired at Michael, but without hitting him, and
+several times too he discharged his revolver on those of the soldiers
+who pressed him too closely. Each time an Usbeck rolled on the ground,
+midst cries of rage from his companions. But this pursuit could only
+terminate to Michael's disadvantage. His horse was almost exhausted. He
+managed to reach the bank of the river. The Usbeck detachment was now
+not more than fifty paces behind him.
+
+The Obi was deserted--not a boat of any description which could take him
+over the water!
+
+"Courage, my brave horse!" cried Michael. "Come! A last effort!" And he
+plunged into the river, which here was half a verst in width.
+
+It would have been difficult to stand against the current--indeed,
+Michael's horse could get no footing. He must therefore swim across the
+river, although it was rapid as a torrent. Even to attempt it showed
+Michael's marvelous courage. The soldiers reached the bank, but
+hesitated to plunge in.
+
+The pendja-baschi seized his musket and took aim at Michael, whom he
+could see in the middle of the stream. The shot was fired, and Michael's
+horse, struck in the side, was borne away by the current.
+
+His master, speedily disentangling himself from his stirrups, struck out
+boldly for the shore. In the midst of a hailstorm of balls he managed to
+reach the opposite side, and disappeared in the rushes.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII THE RIVALS
+
+MICHAEL was in comparative safety, though his situation was still
+terrible. Now that the faithful animal who had so bravely borne him had
+met his death in the waters of the river, how was he to continue his
+journey?
+
+He was on foot, without provisions, in a country devastated by the
+invasion, overrun by the Emir's scouts, and still at a considerable
+distance from the place he was striving to reach. "By Heaven, I will get
+there!" he exclaimed, in reply to all the reasons for faltering. "God
+will protect our sacred Russia."
+
+Michael was out of reach of the Usbeck horsemen. They had not dared to
+pursue him through the river.
+
+Once more on solid ground Michael stopped to consider what he should
+do next. He wished to avoid Tomsk, now occupied by the Tartar troops.
+Nevertheless, he must reach some town, or at least a post-house, where
+he could procure a horse. A horse once found, he would throw himself out
+of the beaten track, and not again take to the Irkutsk road until in the
+neighborhood of Krasnoiarsk. From that place, if he were quick, he
+hoped to find the way still open, and he intended to go through the Lake
+Baikal provinces in a southeasterly direction.
+
+Michael began by going eastward. By following the course of the Obi two
+versts further, he reached a picturesque little town lying on a small
+hill. A few churches, with Byzantine cupolas colored green and gold,
+stood up against the gray sky. This is Kolyvan, where the officers and
+people employed at Kamsk and other towns take refuge during the summer
+from the unhealthy climate of the Baraba. According to the latest news
+obtained by the Czar's courier, Kolyvan could not be yet in the hands of
+the invaders. The Tartar troops, divided into two columns, had marched
+to the left on Omsk, to the right on Tomsk, neglecting the intermediate
+country.
+
+Michael Strogoff's plan was simply this--to reach Kolyvan before the
+arrival of the Usbeck horsemen, who would ascend the other bank of the
+Obi to the ferry. There he would procure clothes and a horse, and resume
+the road to Irkutsk across the southern steppe.
+
+It was now three o'clock in the morning. The neighborhood of Kolyvan
+was very still, and appeared to have been totally abandoned. The country
+population had evidently fled to the northwards, to the province of
+Yeniseisk, dreading the invasion, which they could not resist.
+
+Michael was walking at a rapid pace towards Kolyvan when distant firing
+struck his ear. He stopped, and clearly distinguished the dull roar of
+artillery, and above it a crisp rattle which could not be mistaken.
+
+"It is cannon and musketry!" said he. "The little Russian body is
+engaged with the Tartar army! Pray Heaven that I may arrive at Kolyvan
+before them!"
+
+The firing became gradually louder, and soon to the left of Kolyvan
+a mist collected--not smoke, but those great white clouds produced by
+discharges of artillery.
+
+The Usbeck horsemen stopped on the left of the Obi, to await the result
+of the battle. From them Michael had nothing to fear as he hastened
+towards the town.
+
+In the meanwhile the firing increased, and became sensibly nearer. It
+was no longer a confused roar, but distinct reports. At the same time
+the smoke partially cleared, and it became evident that the combatants
+were rapidly moving southwards. It appeared that Kolyvan was to be
+attacked on the north side. But were the Russians defending it or the
+Tartars? It being impossible to decide this, Michael became greatly
+perplexed.
+
+He was not more than half a verst from Kolyvan when he observed flames
+shooting up among the houses of the town, and the steeple of a church
+fell in the midst of clouds of smoke and fire. Was the struggle, then,
+in Kolyvan? Michael was compelled to think so. It was evident that
+Russians and Tartars were fighting in the streets of the town. Was this
+a time to seek refuge there? Would he not run a risk of being taken
+prisoner? Should he succeed in escaping from Kolyvan, as he had escaped
+from Omsk? He hesitated and stopped a moment. Would it not be better to
+try, even on foot, to reach some small town, and there procure a horse
+at any price? This was the only thing to be done; and Michael, leaving
+the Obi, went forward to the right of Kolyvan.
+
+The firing had now increased in violence. Flames soon sprang up on the
+left of the town. Fire was devouring one entire quarter of Kolyvan.
+
+Michael was running across the steppe endeavoring to gain the covert of
+some trees when a detachment of Tartar cavalry appeared on the right. He
+dared not continue in that direction. The horsemen advanced rapidly, and
+it would have been difficult to escape them.
+
+Suddenly, in a thick clump of trees, he saw an isolated house, which
+it would be possible to reach before he was perceived. Michael had
+no choice but to run there, hide himself and ask or take something to
+recruit his strength, for he was exhausted with hunger and fatigue.
+
+He accordingly ran on towards this house, still about half a verst
+distant. As he approached, he could see that it was a telegraph office.
+Two wires left it in westerly and easterly directions, and a third went
+towards Kolyvan.
+
+It was to be supposed that under the circumstances this station was
+abandoned; but even if it was, Michael could take refuge there, and wait
+till nightfall, if necessary, to again set out across the steppe covered
+with Tartar scouts.
+
+He ran up to the door and pushed it open.
+
+A single person was in the room whence the telegraphic messages were
+dispatched. This was a clerk, calm, phlegmatic, indifferent to all that
+was passing outside. Faithful to his post, he waited behind his little
+wicket until the public claimed his services.
+
+Michael ran up to him, and in a voice broken by fatigue, "What do you
+know?" he asked.
+
+"Nothing," answered the clerk, smiling.
+
+"Are the Russians and Tartars engaged?"
+
+"They say so."
+
+"But who are the victors?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+Such calmness, such indifference, in the midst of these terrible events,
+was scarcely credible.
+
+"And is not the wire cut?" said Michael.
+
+"It is cut between Kolyvan and Krasnoiarsk, but it is still working
+between Kolyvan and the Russian frontier."
+
+"For the government?"
+
+"For the government, when it thinks proper. For the public, when they
+pay. Ten copecks a word, whenever you like, sir!"
+
+Michael was about to reply to this strange clerk that he had no message
+to send, that he only implored a little bread and water, when the door
+of the house was again thrown open.
+
+Thinking that it was invaded by Tartars, Michael made ready to leap out
+of the window, when two men only entered the room who had nothing of
+the Tartar soldier about them. One of them held a dispatch, written in
+pencil, in his hand, and, passing the other, he hurried up to the wicket
+of the imperturbable clerk.
+
+In these two men Michael recognized with astonishment, which everyone
+will understand, two personages of whom he was not thinking at all, and
+whom he had never expected to see again. They were the two reporters,
+Harry Blount and Alcide Jolivet, no longer traveling companions, but
+rivals, enemies, now that they were working on the field of battle.
+
+They had left Ichim only a few hours after the departure of Michael
+Strogoff, and they had arrived at Kolyvan before him, by following the
+same road, in consequence of his losing three days on the banks of the
+Irtych. And now, after being both present at the engagement between the
+Russians and Tartars before the town, they had left just as the struggle
+broke out in the streets, and ran to the telegraph office, so as to send
+off their rival dispatches to Europe, and forestall each other in their
+report of events.
+
+Michael stood aside in the shadow, and without being seen himself he
+could see and hear all that was going on. He would now hear interesting
+news, and would find out whether or not he could enter Kolyvan.
+
+Blount, having distanced his companion, took possession of the wicket,
+whilst Alcide Jolivet, contrary to his usual habit, stamped with
+impatience.
+
+"Ten copecks a word," said the clerk.
+
+Blount deposited a pile of roubles on the shelf, whilst his rival looked
+on with a sort of stupefaction.
+
+"Good," said the clerk. And with the greatest coolness in the world he
+began to telegraph the following dispatch: "Daily Telegraph, London.
+
+"From Kolyvan, Government of Omsk, Siberia, 6th August.
+
+"Engagement between Russian and Tartar troops."
+
+The reading was in a distinct voice, so that Michael heard all that the
+English correspondent was sending to his paper.
+
+"Russians repulsed with great loss. Tartars entered Kolyvan to-day."
+These words ended the dispatch.
+
+"My turn now," cried Alcide Jolivet, anxious to send off his dispatch,
+addressed to his cousin.
+
+But that was not Blount's idea, who did not intend to give up the
+wicket, but have it in his power to send off the news just as the events
+occurred. He would therefore not make way for his companion.
+
+"But you have finished!" exclaimed Jolivet.
+
+"I have not finished," returned Harry Blount quietly.
+
+And he proceeded to write some sentences, which he handed in to the
+clerk, who read out in his calm voice: "John Gilpin was a citizen of
+credit and renown; a train-band captain eke was he of famous London
+town."
+
+Harry Blount was telegraphing some verses learned in his childhood, in
+order to employ the time, and not give up his place to his rival. It
+would perhaps cost his paper some thousands of roubles, but it would be
+the first informed. France could wait.
+
+Jolivet's fury may be imagined, though under any other circumstances
+he would have thought it fair warfare. He even endeavored to force the
+clerk to take his dispatch in preference to that of his rival.
+
+"It is that gentleman's right," answered the clerk coolly, pointing
+to Blount, and smiling in the most amiable manner. And he continued
+faithfully to transmit to the Daily Telegraph the well-known verses of
+Cowper.
+
+Whilst he was working Blount walked to the window and, his field glass
+to his eyes, watched all that was going on in the neighborhood of
+Kolyvan, so as to complete his information. In a few minutes he resumed
+his place at the wicket, and added to his telegram: "Two churches are
+in flames. The fire appears to gain on the right. 'John Gilpin's spouse
+said to her dear, Though wedded we have been these twice ten tedious
+years, yet we no holiday have seen.'"
+
+Alcide Jolivet would have liked to strangle the honorable correspondent
+of the Daily Telegraph.
+
+He again interrupted the clerk, who, quite unmoved, merely replied: "It
+is his right, sir, it is his right--at ten copecks a word."
+
+And he telegraphed the following news, just brought him by Blount:
+"Russian fugitives are escaping from the town. 'Away went Gilpin--who
+but he? His fame soon spread around: He carries weight! he rides a race!
+'Tis for a thousand pound!'" And Blount turned round with a quizzical
+look at his rival.
+
+Alcide Jolivet fumed.
+
+In the meanwhile Harry Blount had returned to the window, but this time
+his attention was diverted by the interest of the scene before him.
+Therefore, when the clerk had finished telegraphing the last lines
+dictated by Blount, Alcide Jolivet noiselessly took his place at the
+wicket, and, just as his rival had done, after quietly depositing a
+respectable pile of roubles on the shelf, he delivered his dispatch,
+which the clerk read aloud: "Madeleine Jolivet, 10, Faubourg Montmartre,
+Paris.
+
+"From Kolyvan, Government of Omsk, Siberia, 6th August.
+
+"Fugitives are escaping from the town. Russians defeated. Fiercely
+pursued by the Tartar cavalry."
+
+And as Harry Blount returned he heard Jolivet completing his telegram by
+singing in a mocking tone:
+
+"II est un petit homme, Tout habille de gris, Dans Paris!"
+
+Imitating his rival, Alcide Jolivet had used a merry refrain of
+Beranger.
+
+"Hallo!" said Harry Blount.
+
+"Just so," answered Jolivet.
+
+In the meantime the situation at Kolyvan was alarming in the extreme.
+The battle was raging nearer, and the firing was incessant.
+
+At that moment the telegraph office shook to its foundations. A shell
+had made a hole in the wall, and a cloud of dust filled the office.
+
+Alcide was just finishing writing his lines; but to stop, dart on the
+shell, seize it in both hands, throw it out of the window, and return to
+the wicket, was only the affair of a moment.
+
+Five seconds later the shell burst outside. Continuing with the greatest
+possible coolness, Alcide wrote: "A six-inch shell has just blown up the
+wall of the telegraph office. Expecting a few more of the same size."
+
+Michael Strogoff had no doubt that the Russians were driven out of
+Kolyvan. His last resource was to set out across the southern steppe.
+
+Just then renewed firing broke out close to the telegraph house, and a
+perfect shower of bullets smashed all the glass in the windows. Harry
+Blount fell to the ground wounded in the shoulder.
+
+Jolivet even at such a moment, was about to add this postscript to
+his dispatch: "Harry Blount, correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, has
+fallen at my side struck by--" when the imperturbable clerk said calmly:
+"Sir, the wire has broken." And, leaving his wicket, he quietly took his
+hat, brushed it round with his sleeve, and, still smiling, disappeared
+through a little door which Michael had not before perceived.
+
+The house was surrounded by Tartar soldiers, and neither Michael nor the
+reporters could effect their retreat.
+
+Alcide Jolivet, his useless dispatch in his hand, had run to Blount,
+stretched on the ground, and had bravely lifted him on his shoulders,
+with the intention of flying with him. He was too late!
+
+Both were prisoners; and, at the same time, Michael, taken unawares
+as he was about to leap from the window, fell into the hands of the
+Tartars!
+
+END OF BOOK I
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I A TARTAR CAMP
+
+AT a day's march from Kolyvan, several versts beyond the town of
+Diachinks, stretches a wide plain, planted here and there with great
+trees, principally pines and cedars. This part of the steppe is usually
+occupied during the warm season by Siberian shepherds, and their
+numerous flocks. But now it might have been searched in vain for one of
+its nomad inhabitants. Not that the plain was deserted. It presented a
+most animated appearance.
+
+There stood the Tartar tents; there Feofar-Khan, the terrible Emir
+of Bokhara, was encamped; and there on the following day, the 7th
+of August, were brought the prisoners taken at Kolyvan after the
+annihilation of the Russian force, which had vainly attempted to oppose
+the progress of the invaders. Of the two thousand men who had engaged
+with the two columns of the enemy, the bases of which rested on Tomsk
+and Omsk, only a few hundred remained. Thus events were going badly,
+and the imperial government appeared to have lost its power beyond the
+frontiers of the Ural--for a time at least, for the Russians could not
+fail eventually to defeat the savage hordes of the invaders. But in
+the meantime the invasion had reached the center of Siberia, and it
+was spreading through the revolted country both to the eastern, and
+the western provinces. If the troops of the Amoor and the province of
+Takutsk did not arrive in time to occupy it, Irkutsk, the capital of
+Asiatic Russia, being insufficiently garrisoned, would fall into the
+hands of the Tartars, and the Grand Duke, brother of the Emperor, would
+be sacrificed to the vengeance of Ivan Ogareff.
+
+What had become of Michael Strogoff? Had he broken down under the weight
+of so many trials? Did he consider himself conquered by the series
+of disasters which, since the adventure of Ichim, had increased in
+magnitude? Did he think his cause lost? that his mission had failed?
+that his orders could no longer be obeyed?
+
+Michael was one of those men who never give in while life exists. He was
+yet alive; he still had the imperial letter safe; his disguise had been
+undiscovered. He was included amongst the numerous prisoners whom the
+Tartars were dragging with them like cattle; but by approaching Tomsk he
+was at the same time drawing nearer to Irkutsk. Besides, he was still in
+front of Ivan Ogareff.
+
+"I will get there!" he repeated to himself.
+
+Since the affair of Kolyvan all the powers of his mind were concentrated
+on one object--to become free! How should he escape from the Emir's
+soldiers?
+
+Feofar's camp presented a magnificent spectacle.
+
+Numberless tents, of skin, felt, or silk, glistened in the rays of the
+sun. The lofty plumes which surmounted their conical tops waved amidst
+banners, flags, and pennons of every color. The richest of these tents
+belonged to the Seides and Khodjas, who are the principal personages of
+the khanat. A special pavilion, ornamented with a horse's tail issuing
+from a sheaf of red and white sticks artistically interlaced, indicated
+the high rank of these Tartar chiefs. Then in the distance rose several
+thousand of the Turcoman tents, called "karaoy," which had been carried
+on the backs of camels.
+
+The camp contained at least a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers,
+as many foot as horse soldiers, collected under the name of Alamanes.
+Amongst them, and as the principal types of Turkestan, would have been
+directly remarked the Tadjiks, from their regular features, white skin,
+tall forms, and black eyes and hair; they formed the bulk of the Tartar
+army, and of them the khanats of Khokhand and Koundouge had furnished
+a contingent nearly equal to that of Bokhara. With the Tadjiks were
+mingled specimens of different races who either reside in Turkestan or
+whose native countries border on it. There were Usbecks, red-bearded,
+small in stature, similar to those who had pursued Michael. Here were
+Kirghiz, with flat faces like the Kalmucks, dressed in coats of mail:
+some carried the lance, bows, and arrows of Asiatic manufacture; some
+the saber, a matchlock gun, and the "tschakane," a little short-handled
+ax, the wounds from which invariably prove fatal. There were Mongols--of
+middle height, with black hair plaited into pigtails, which hung down
+their back; round faces, swarthy complexions, lively deep-set eyes,
+scanty beards--dressed in blue nankeen trimmed with black plush,
+sword-belts of leather with silver buckles, coats gayly braided,
+and silk caps edged with fur and three ribbons fluttering behind.
+Brown-skinned Afghans, too, might have been seen. Arabs, having the
+primitive type of the beautiful Semitic races; and Turcomans, with eyes
+which looked as if they had lost the pupil,--all enrolled under the
+Emir's flag, the flag of incendiaries and devastators.
+
+Among these free soldiers were a certain number of slave soldiers,
+principally Persians, commanded by officers of the same nation, and they
+were certainly not the least esteemed of Feofar-Khan's army.
+
+If to this list are added the Jews, who acted as servants, their robes
+confined with a cord, and wearing on their heads instead of the turban,
+which is forbidden them, little caps of dark cloth; if with these
+groups are mingled some hundreds of "kalenders," a sort of religious
+mendicants, clothed in rags, covered by a leopard skin, some idea may be
+formed of the enormous agglomerations of different tribes included under
+the general denomination of the Tartar army.
+
+Nothing could be more romantic than this picture, in delineating which
+the most skillful artist would have exhausted all the colors of his
+palette.
+
+Feofar's tent overlooked the others. Draped in large folds of a
+brilliant silk looped with golden cords and tassels, surmounted by tall
+plumes which waved in the wind like fans, it occupied the center of a
+wide clearing, sheltered by a grove of magnificent birch and pine trees.
+Before this tent, on a japanned table inlaid with precious stones, was
+placed the sacred book of the Koran, its pages being of thin gold-leaf
+delicately engraved. Above floated the Tartar flag, quartered with the
+Emir's arms.
+
+In a semicircle round the clearing stood the tents of the great
+functionaries of Bokhara. There resided the chief of the stables, who
+has the right to follow the Emir on horseback even into the court of
+his palace; the grand falconer; the "housch-begui," bearer of the
+royal seal; the "toptschi-baschi," grand master of the artillery; the
+"khodja," chief of the council, who receives the prince's kiss, and
+may present himself before him with his girdle untied; the
+"scheikh-oul-islam," chief of the Ulemas, representing the priests; the
+"cazi-askev," who, in the Emir's absence settles all disputes raised
+among the soldiers; and lastly, the chief of the astrologers, whose
+great business is to consult the stars every time the Khan thinks of
+changing his quarters.
+
+When the prisoners were brought into the camp, the Emir was in his tent.
+He did not show himself. This was fortunate, no doubt. A sign, a word
+from him might have been the signal for some bloody execution. But
+he intrenched himself in that isolation which constitutes in part the
+majesty of Eastern kings. He who does not show himself is admired, and,
+above all, feared.
+
+As to the prisoners, they were to be penned up in some enclosure, where,
+ill-treated, poorly fed, and exposed to all the inclemencies of the
+weather, they would await Feofar's pleasure.
+
+The most docile and patient of them all was undoubtedly Michael
+Strogoff. He allowed himself to be led, for they were leading him where
+he wished to go, and under conditions of safety which free he could not
+have found on the road from Kolyvan to Tomsk. To escape before reaching
+that town was to risk again falling into the hands of the scouts, who
+were scouring the steppe. The most eastern line occupied by the Tartar
+columns was not situated beyond the eighty-fifth meridian, which passes
+through Tomsk. This meridian once passed, Michael considered that he
+should be beyond the hostile zones, that he could traverse Genisci
+without danger, and gain Krasnoiarsk before Feofar-Khan had invaded the
+province.
+
+"Once at Tomsk," he repeated to himself, to repress some feelings of
+impatience which he could not entirely master, "in a few minutes I
+should be beyond the outposts; and twelve hours gained on Feofar, twelve
+hours on Ogareff, that surely would be enough to give me a start of them
+to Irkutsk."
+
+The thing that Michael dreaded more than everything else was the
+presence of Ivan Ogareff in the Tartar camp. Besides the danger of being
+recognized, he felt, by a sort of instinct, that this was the traitor
+whom it was especially necessary to precede. He understood, too, that
+the union of Ogareff's troops with those of Feofar would complete the
+invading army, and that the junction once effected, the army would march
+en masse on the capital of Eastern Siberia. All his apprehensions came
+from this quarter, and he dreaded every instant to hear some flourish of
+trumpets, announcing the arrival of the lieutenant of the Emir.
+
+To this was added the thought of his mother, of Nadia,--the one a
+prisoner at Omsk; the other dragged on board the Irtych boats, and no
+doubt a captive, as Marfa Strogoff was. He could do nothing for them.
+Should he ever see them again? At this question, to which he dared not
+reply, his heart sank very low.
+
+At the same time with Michael Strogoff and so many other prisoners Harry
+Blount and Alcide Jolivet had also been taken to the Tartar camp. Their
+former traveling companion, captured like them at the telegraph office,
+knew that they were penned up with him in the enclosure, guarded by
+numerous sentinels, but he did not wish to accost them. It mattered
+little to him, at this time especially, what they might think of him
+since the affair at Ichim. Besides, he desired to be alone, that he
+might act alone, if necessary. He therefore held himself aloof from his
+former acquaintances.
+
+From the moment that Harry Blount had fallen by his side, Jolivet had
+not ceased his attentions to him. During the journey from Kolyvan to
+the camp--that is to say, for several hours--Blount, by leaning on his
+companion's arm, had been enabled to follow the rest of the prisoners.
+He tried to make known that he was a British subject; but it had no
+effect on the barbarians, who only replied by prods with a lance or
+sword. The correspondent of the Daily Telegraph was, therefore, obliged
+to submit to the common lot, resolving to protest later, and obtain
+satisfaction for such treatment. But the journey was not the less
+disagreeable to him, for his wound caused him much pain, and without
+Alcide Jolivet's assistance he might never have reached the camp.
+
+Jolivet, whose practical philosophy never abandoned him, had physically
+and morally strengthened his companion by every means in his power. His
+first care, when they found themselves definitely established in the
+enclosure, was to examine Blount's wound. Having managed carefully to
+draw off his coat, he found that the shoulder had been only grazed by
+the shot.
+
+"This is nothing," he said. "A mere scratch! After two or three
+dressings you will be all to rights."
+
+"But these dressings?" asked Blount.
+
+"I will make them for you myself."
+
+"Then you are something of a doctor?"
+
+"All Frenchmen are something of doctors."
+
+And on this affirmation Alcide, tearing his handkerchief, made lint of
+one piece, bandages of the other, took some water from a well dug in the
+middle of the enclosure, bathed the wound, and skillfully placed the wet
+rag on Harry Blount's shoulder.
+
+"I treat you with water," he said. "This liquid is the most efficacious
+sedative known for the treatment of wounds, and is the most employed
+now. Doctors have taken six thousand years to discover that! Yes, six
+thousand years in round numbers!"
+
+"I thank you, M. Jolivet," answered Harry, stretching himself on a bed
+of dry leaves, which his companion had arranged for him in the shade of
+a birch tree.
+
+"Bah! it's nothing! You would do as much for me."
+
+"I am not quite so sure," said Blount candidly.
+
+"Nonsense, stupid! All English are generous."
+
+"Doubtless; but the French?"
+
+"Well, the French--they are brutes, if you like! But what redeems them
+is that they are French. Say nothing more about that, or rather, say
+nothing more at all. Rest is absolutely necessary for you."
+
+But Harry Blount had no wish to be silent. If the wound, in prudence,
+required rest, the correspondent of the Daily Telegraph was not a man to
+indulge himself.
+
+"M. Jolivet," he asked, "do you think that our last dispatches have been
+able to pass the Russian frontier?"
+
+"Why not?" answered Alcide. "By this time you may be sure that my
+beloved cousin knows all about the affair at Kolyvan."
+
+"How many copies does your cousin work off of her dispatches?" asked
+Blount, for the first time putting his question direct to his companion.
+
+"Well," answered Alcide, laughing, "my cousin is a very discreet person,
+who does not like to be talked about, and who would be in despair if she
+troubled the sleep of which you are in need."
+
+"I don't wish to sleep," replied the Englishman. "What will your cousin
+think of the affairs of Russia?"
+
+"That they seem for the time in a bad way. But, bah! the Muscovite
+government is powerful; it cannot be really uneasy at an invasion of
+barbarians."
+
+"Too much ambition has lost the greatest empires," answered Blount, who
+was not exempt from a certain English jealousy with regard to Russian
+pretensions in Central Asia.
+
+"Oh, do not let us talk politics," cried Jolivet. "It is forbidden by
+the faculty. Nothing can be worse for wounds in the shoulder--unless it
+was to put you to sleep."
+
+"Let us, then, talk of what we ought to do," replied Blount. "M.
+Jolivet, I have no intention at all of remaining a prisoner to these
+Tartars for an indefinite time."
+
+"Nor I, either, by Jove!"
+
+"We will escape on the first opportunity?"
+
+"Yes, if there is no other way of regaining our liberty."
+
+"Do you know of any other?" asked Blount, looking at his companion.
+
+"Certainly. We are not belligerents; we are neutral, and we will claim
+our freedom."
+
+"From that brute of a Feofar-Khan?"
+
+"No; he would not understand," answered Jolivet; "but from his
+lieutenant, Ivan Ogareff."
+
+"He is a villain."
+
+"No doubt; but the villain is a Russian. He knows that it does not do
+to trifle with the rights of men, and he has no interest to retain us;
+on the contrary. But to ask a favor of that gentleman does not quite
+suit my taste."
+
+"But that gentleman is not in the camp, or at least I have not seen him
+here," observed Blount.
+
+"He will come. He will not fail to do that. He must join the Emir.
+Siberia is cut in two now, and very certainly Feofar's army is only
+waiting for him to advance on Irkutsk."
+
+"And once free, what shall we do?"
+
+"Once free, we will continue our campaign, and follow the Tartars, until
+the time comes when we can make our way into the Russian camp. We must
+not give up the game. No, indeed; we have only just begun. You, friend,
+have already had the honor of being wounded in the service of the Daily
+Telegraph, whilst I--I have as yet suffered nothing in my cousin's
+service. Well, well! Good," murmured Alcide Jolivet; "there he is
+asleep. A few hours' sleep and a few cold water compresses are all that
+are required to set an Englishman on his legs again. These fellows are
+made of cast iron."
+
+And whilst Harry Blount rested, Alcide watched near him, after having
+drawn out his note book, which he loaded with notes, determined besides
+to share them with his companion, for the greater satisfaction of the
+readers of the Daily Telegraph. Events had united them one with the
+other. They were no longer jealous of each other. So, then, the thing
+that Michael Strogoff dreaded above everything was the most lively
+desire of the two correspondents. Ivan Ogareff's arrival would evidently
+be of use to them. Blount and Jolivet's interest was, therefore,
+contrary to that of Michael. The latter well understood the situation,
+and it was one reason, added to many others, which prevented him from
+approaching his former traveling companions. He therefore managed so as
+not to be seen by them.
+
+Four days passed thus without the state of things being in anywise
+altered. The prisoners heard no talk of the breaking up of the Tartar
+camp. They were strictly guarded. It would have been impossible for them
+to pass the cordon of foot and horse soldiers, which watched them night
+and day. As to the food which was given them it was barely sufficient.
+Twice in the twenty-four hours they were thrown a piece of the
+intestines of goats grilled on the coals, or a few bits of that cheese
+called "kroute," made of sour ewe's milk, and which, soaked in mare's
+milk, forms the Kirghiz dish, commonly called "koumyss." And this was
+all. It may be added that the weather had become detestable. There were
+considerable atmospheric commotions, bringing squalls mingled with rain.
+The unfortunate prisoners, destitute of shelter, had to bear all the
+inclemencies of the weather, nor was there the slightest alleviation to
+their misery. Several wounded women and children died, and the prisoners
+were themselves compelled to dig graves for the bodies of those whom
+their jailers would not even take the trouble to bury.
+
+During this trying period Alcide Jolivet and Michael Strogoff worked
+hard, each in the portions of the enclosure in which they found
+themselves. Healthy and vigorous, they suffered less than so many
+others, and could better endure the hardships to which they were
+exposed. By their advice, and the assistance they rendered, they were
+of the greatest possible use to their suffering and despairing
+fellow-captives.
+
+Was this state of things to last? Would Feofar-Khan, satisfied with his
+first success, wait some time before marching on Irkutsk? Such, it was
+to be feared, would be the case. But it was not so. The event so much
+wished for by Jolivet and Blount, so much dreaded by Michael, occurred
+on the morning of the 12th of August.
+
+On that day the trumpets sounded, the drums beat, the cannon roared.
+A huge cloud of dust swept along the road from Kolyvan. Ivan Ogareff,
+followed by several thousand men, made his entry into the Tartar camp.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II CORRESPONDENTS IN TROUBLE
+
+IVAN OGAREFF was bringing up the main body of the army of the Emir. The
+cavalry and infantry now under him had formed part of the column which
+had taken Omsk. Ogareff, not having been able to reduce the high town,
+in which, it must be remembered, the governor and garrison had sought
+refuge, had decided to pass on, not wishing to delay operations which
+ought to lead to the conquest of Eastern Siberia. He therefore left a
+garrison in Omsk, and, reinforcing himself en route with the conquerors
+of Kolyvan, joined Feofar's army.
+
+Ivan Ogareff's soldiers halted at the outposts of the camp. They
+received no orders to bivouac. Their chief's plan, doubtless, was not
+to halt there, but to press on and reach Tomsk in the shortest possible
+time, it being an important town, naturally intended to become the
+center of future operations.
+
+Besides his soldiers, Ogareff was bringing a convoy of Russian and
+Siberian prisoners, captured either at Omsk or Kolyvan. These unhappy
+creatures were not led to the enclosure--already too crowded--but
+were forced to remain at the outposts without shelter, almost without
+nourishment. What fate was Feofar-Khan reserving for these unfortunates?
+Would he imprison them in Tomsk, or would some bloody execution,
+familiar to the Tartar chiefs, remove them when they were found too
+inconvenient? This was the secret of the capricious Emir.
+
+This army had not come from Omsk and Kolyvan without bringing in its
+train the usual crowd of beggars, freebooters, pedlars, and gypsies,
+which compose the rear-guard of an army on the march.
+
+All these people lived on the country traversed, and left little of
+anything behind them. There was, therefore, a necessity for pushing
+forward, if only to secure provisions for the troops. The whole region
+between Ichim and the Obi, now completely devastated, no longer offered
+any resources. The Tartars left a desert behind them.
+
+Conspicuous among the gypsies who had hastened from the western
+provinces was the Tsigane troop, which had accompanied Michael Strogoff
+as far as Perm. Sangarre was there. This fierce spy, the tool of Ivan
+Ogareff, had not deserted her master. Ogareff had traveled rapidly
+to Ichim, whilst Sangarre and her band had proceeded to Omsk by the
+southern part of the province.
+
+It may be easily understood how useful this woman was to Ogareff. With
+her gypsy-band she could penetrate anywhere. Ivan Ogareff was kept
+acquainted with all that was going on in the very heart of the invaded
+provinces. There were a hundred eyes, a hundred ears, open in his
+service. Besides, he paid liberally for this espionage, from which he
+derived so much advantage.
+
+Once Sangarre, being implicated in a very serious affair, had been saved
+by the Russian officer. She never forgot what she owed him, and had
+devoted herself to his service body and soul.
+
+When Ivan Ogareff entered on the path of treason, he saw at once how
+he might turn this woman to account. Whatever order he might give her,
+Sangarre would execute it. An inexplicable instinct, more powerful still
+than that of gratitude, had urged her to make herself the slave of the
+traitor to whom she had been attached since the very beginning of his
+exile in Siberia.
+
+Confidante and accomplice, Sangarre, without country, without family,
+had been delighted to put her vagabond life to the service of the
+invaders thrown by Ogareff on Siberia. To the wonderful cunning natural
+to her race she added a wild energy, which knew neither forgiveness nor
+pity. She was a savage worthy to share the wigwam of an Apache or the
+hut of an Andaman.
+
+Since her arrival at Omsk, where she had rejoined him with her Tsiganes,
+Sangarre had not again left Ogareff. The circumstance that Michael and
+Marfa Strogoff had met was known to her. She knew and shared Ogareff's
+fears concerning the journey of a courier of the Czar. Having Marfa
+Strogoff in her power, she would have been the woman to torture her with
+all the refinement of a Redskin in order to wrest her secret from her.
+But the hour had not yet come in which Ogareff wished the old Siberian
+to speak. Sangarre had to wait, and she waited, without losing sight
+of her whom she was watching, observing her slightest gestures, her
+slightest words, endeavoring to catch the word "son" escaping from her
+lips, but as yet always baffled by Marfa's taciturnity.
+
+At the first flourish of the trumpets several officers of high rank,
+followed by a brilliant escort of Usbeck horsemen, moved to the front of
+the camp to receive Ivan Ogareff. Arrived in his presence, they paid him
+the greatest respect, and invited him to accompany them to Feofar-Khan's
+tent.
+
+Imperturbable as usual, Ogareff replied coldly to the deference paid to
+him. He was plainly dressed; but, from a sort of impudent bravado, he
+still wore the uniform of a Russian officer.
+
+As he was about to enter the camp, Sangarre, passing among the officers
+approached and remained motionless before him. "Nothing?" asked Ogareff.
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Have patience."
+
+"Is the time approaching when you will force the old woman to speak?"
+
+"It is approaching, Sangarre."
+
+"When will the old woman speak?"
+
+"When we reach Tomsk."
+
+"And we shall be there--"
+
+"In three days."
+
+A strange gleam shot from Sangarre's great black eyes, and she retired
+with a calm step. Ogareff pressed his spurs into his horse's flanks,
+and, followed by his staff of Tartar officers, rode towards the Emir's
+tent.
+
+Feofar-Khan was expecting his lieutenant. The council, composed of the
+bearer of the royal seal, the khodja, and some high officers, had taken
+their places in the tent. Ivan Ogareff dismounted and entered.
+
+Feofar-Khan was a man of forty, tall, rather pale, of a fierce
+countenance, and evil eyes. A curly black beard flowed over his chest.
+With his war costume, coat of mail of gold and silver, cross-belt and
+scabbard glistening with precious stones, boots with golden spurs,
+helmet ornamented with an aigrette of brilliant diamonds, Feofar
+presented an aspect rather strange than imposing for a Tartar
+Sardana-palus, an undisputed sovereign, who directs at his pleasure the
+life and fortune of his subjects.
+
+When Ivan Ogareff appeared, the great dignitaries remained seated on
+their gold-embroidered cushions; but Feofar rose from a rich divan which
+occupied the back part of the tent, the ground being hidden under the
+thick velvet-pile of a Bokharian carpet.
+
+The Emir approached Ogareff and gave him a kiss, the meaning of which he
+could not mistake. This kiss made the lieutenant chief of the council,
+and placed him temporarily above the khodja.
+
+Then Feofar spoke. "I have no need to question you," said he; "speak,
+Ivan. You will find here ears very ready to listen to you."
+
+"Takhsir," answered Ogareff, "this is what I have to make known to you."
+He spoke in the Tartar language, giving to his phrases the emphatic turn
+which distinguishes the languages of the Orientals. "Takhsir, this is
+not the time for unnecessary words. What I have done at the head of your
+troops, you know. The lines of the Ichim and the Irtych are now in
+our power; and the Turcoman horsemen can bathe their horses in the now
+Tartar waters. The Kirghiz hordes rose at the voice of Feofar-Khan. You
+can now push your troops towards the east, and where the sun rises, or
+towards the west, where he sets."
+
+"And if I march with the sun?" asked the Emir, without his countenance
+betraying any of his thoughts.
+
+"To march with the sun," answered Ogareff, "is to throw yourself towards
+Europe; it is to conquer rapidly the Siberian provinces of Tobolsk as
+far as the Ural Mountains."
+
+"And if I go to meet this luminary of the heavens?"
+
+"It is to subdue to the Tartar dominion, with Irkutsk, the richest
+countries of Central Asia."
+
+"But the armies of the Sultan of St. Petersburg?" said Feofar-Khan,
+designating the Emperor of Russia by this strange title.
+
+"You have nothing to fear from them," replied Ivan Ogareff. "The
+invasion has been sudden; and before the Russian army can succor them,
+Irkutsk or Tobolsk will have fallen into your power. The Czar's troops
+have been overwhelmed at Kolyvan, as they will be everywhere where yours
+meet them."
+
+"And what advice does your devotion to the Tartar cause suggest?" asked
+the Emir, after a few moments' silence.
+
+"My advice," answered Ivan Ogareff quickly, "is to march to meet the
+sun. It is to give the grass of the eastern steppes to the Turcoman
+horses to consume. It is to take Irkutsk, the capital of the eastern
+provinces, and with it a hostage, the possession of whom is worth a
+whole country. In the place of the Czar, the Grand Duke his brother must
+fall into your hands."
+
+This was the great result aimed at by Ivan Ogareff. To listen to him,
+one would have taken him for one of the cruel descendants of Stephan
+Razine, the celebrated pirate who ravaged Southern Russia in the
+eighteenth century. To seize the Grand Duke, murder him pitilessly,
+would fully satisfy his hatred. Besides, with the capture of Irkutsk,
+all Eastern Siberia would pass to the Tartars.
+
+"It shall be thus, Ivan," replied Feofar.
+
+"What are your orders, Takhsir?"
+
+"To-day our headquarters shall be removed to Tomsk."
+
+Ogareff bowed, and, followed by the housch-begui, he retired to execute
+the Emir's orders.
+
+As he was about to mount his horse, to return to the outposts, a tumult
+broke out at some distance, in the part of the camp reserved for the
+prisoners. Shouts were heard, and two or three shots fired. Perhaps it
+was an attempt at revolt or escape, which must be summarily suppressed.
+
+Ivan Ogareff and the housch-begui walked forward and almost immediately
+two men, whom the soldiers had not been able to keep back appeared
+before them.
+
+The housch-begui, without more information, made a sign which was an
+order for death, and the heads of the two prisoners would have rolled on
+the ground had not Ogareff uttered a few words which arrested the sword
+already raised aloft. The Russian had perceived that these prisoners
+were strangers, and he ordered them to be brought to him.
+
+They were Harry Blount and Alcide jolivet.
+
+On Ogareff's arrival in the camp, they had demanded to be conducted to
+his presence. The soldiers had refused. In consequence, a struggle,
+an attempt at flight, shots fired which happily missed the two
+correspondents, but their execution would not have been long delayed, if
+it had not been for the intervention of the Emir's lieutenant.
+
+The latter observed the prisoners for some moments, they being
+absolutely unknown to him. They had been present at that scene in
+the post-house at Ichim, in which Michael Strogoff had been struck by
+Ogareff; but the brutal traveler had paid no attention to the persons
+then collected in the common room.
+
+Blount and Jolivet, on the contrary, recognized him at once, and the
+latter said in a low voice, "Hullo! It seems that Colonel Ogareff and
+the rude personage of Ichim are one!" Then he added in his companion's
+ear, "Explain our affair, Blount. You will do me a service. This Russian
+colonel in the midst of a Tartar camp disgusts me; and although, thanks
+to him, my head is still on my shoulders, my eyes would exhibit my
+feelings were I to attempt to look him in the face."
+
+So saying, Alcide Jolivet assumed a look of complete and haughty
+indifference.
+
+Whether or not Ivan Ogareff perceived that the prisoner's attitude
+was insulting towards him, he did not let it appear. "Who are you,
+gentlemen?" he asked in Russian, in a cold tone, but free from its usual
+rudeness.
+
+"Two correspondents of English and French newspapers," replied Blount
+laconically.
+
+"You have, doubtless, papers which will establish your identity?"
+
+"Here are letters which accredit us in Russia, from the English and
+French chancellor's office."
+
+Ivan Ogareff took the letters which Blount held out, and read them
+attentively. "You ask," said he, "authorization to follow our military
+operations in Siberia?"
+
+"We ask to be free, that is all," answered the English correspondent
+dryly.
+
+"You are so, gentlemen," answered Ogareff; "I am curious to read your
+articles in the Daily Telegraph."
+
+"Sir," replied Blount, with the most imperturbable coolness, "it is
+sixpence a number, including postage." And thereupon he returned to his
+companion, who appeared to approve completely of his replies.
+
+Ivan Ogareff, without frowning, mounted his horse, and going to the head
+of his escort, soon disappeared in a cloud of dust.
+
+"Well, Jolivet, what do you think of Colonel Ivan Ogareff,
+general-in-chief of the Tartar troops?" asked Blount.
+
+"I think, my dear friend," replied Alcide, smiling, "that the
+housch-begui made a very graceful gesture when he gave the order for our
+heads to be cut off."
+
+Whatever was the motive which led Ogareff to act thus in regard to the
+two correspondents, they were free and could rove at their pleasure
+over the scene of war. Their intention was not to leave it. The sort of
+antipathy which formerly they had entertained for each other had
+given place to a sincere friendship. Circumstances having brought them
+together, they no longer thought of separating. The petty questions of
+rivalry were forever extinguished. Harry Blount could never forget what
+he owed his companion, who, on the other hand, never tried to remind him
+of it. This friendship too assisted the reporting operations, and was
+thus to the advantage of their readers.
+
+"And now," asked Blount, "what shall we do with our liberty?"
+
+"Take advantage of it, of course," replied Alcide, "and go quietly to
+Tomsk to see what is going on there."
+
+"Until the time--very near, I hope--when we may rejoin some Russian
+regiment?"
+
+"As you say, my dear Blount, it won't do to Tartarise ourselves too
+much. The best side is that of the most civilized army, and it is
+evident that the people of Central Asia will have everything to lose and
+absolutely nothing to gain from this invasion, while the Russians will
+soon repulse them. It is only a matter of time."
+
+The arrival of Ivan Ogareff, which had given Jolivet and Blount their
+liberty, was to Michael Strogoff, on the contrary, a serious danger.
+Should chance bring the Czar's courier into Ogareff's presence, the
+latter could not fail to recognize in him the traveler whom he had so
+brutally treated at the Ichim post-house, and although Michael had
+not replied to the insult as he would have done under any other
+circumstances, attention would be drawn to him, and at once the
+accomplishment of his plans would be rendered more difficult.
+
+This was the unpleasant side of the business. A favorable result of his
+arrival, however, was the order which was given to raise the camp
+that very day, and remove the headquarters to Tomsk. This was the
+accomplishment of Michael's most fervent desire. His intention, as has
+been said, was to reach Tomsk concealed amongst the other prisoners;
+that is to say, without any risk of falling into the hands of the scouts
+who swarmed about the approaches to this important town. However, in
+consequence of the arrival of Ivan Ogareff, he questioned whether it
+would not be better to give up his first plan and attempt to escape
+during the journey.
+
+Michael would, no doubt, have kept to the latter plan had he not learnt
+that Feofar-Khan and Ogareff had already set out for the town with some
+thousands of horsemen. "I will wait, then," said he to himself; "at
+least, unless some exceptional opportunity for escape occurs. The
+adverse chances are numerous on this side of Tomsk, while beyond I shall
+in a few hours have passed the most advanced Tartar posts to the east.
+Still three days of patience, and may God aid me!"
+
+It was indeed a journey of three days which the prisoners, under the
+guard of a numerous detachment of Tartars, were to make across the
+steppe. A hundred and fifty versts lay between the camp and the town--an
+easy march for the Emir's soldiers, who wanted for nothing, but a
+wretched journey for these people, enfeebled by privations. More than
+one corpse would show the road they had traversed.
+
+It was two o'clock in the afternoon, on the 12th of August, under a hot
+sun and cloudless sky, that the toptschi-baschi gave the order to start.
+
+Alcide and Blount, having bought horses, had already taken the road to
+Tomsk, where events were to reunite the principal personages of this
+story.
+
+Amongst the prisoners brought by Ivan Ogareff to the Tartar camp was an
+old woman, whose taciturnity seemed to keep her apart from all those
+who shared her fate. Not a murmur issued from her lips. She was like a
+statue of grief. This woman was more strictly guarded than anyone else,
+and, without her appearing to notice, was constantly watched by the
+Tsigane Sangarre. Notwithstanding her age she was compelled to follow
+the convoy of prisoners on foot, without any alleviation of her
+suffering.
+
+However, a kind Providence had placed near her a courageous,
+kind-hearted being to comfort and assist her. Amongst her companions in
+misfortune a young girl, remarkable for beauty and taciturnity, seemed
+to have given herself the task of watching over her. No words had been
+exchanged between the two captives, but the girl was always at the old
+woman's side when help was useful. At first the mute assistance of the
+stranger was accepted with some mistrust. Gradually, however, the young
+girl's clear glance, her reserve, and the mysterious sympathy which
+draws together those who are in misfortune, thawed Marfa Strogoff's
+coldness.
+
+Nadia--for it was she--was thus able, without knowing it, to render to
+the mother those attentions which she had herself received from the son.
+Her instinctive kindness had doubly inspired her. In devoting herself
+to her service, Nadia secured to her youth and beauty the protection
+afforded by the age of the old prisoner.
+
+On the crowd of unhappy people, embittered by sufferings, this
+silent pair--one seeming to be the grandmother, the other the
+grand-daughter--imposed a sort of respect.
+
+After being carried off by the Tartar scouts on the Irtych, Nadia had
+been taken to Omsk. Kept prisoner in the town, she shared the fate
+of all those captured by Ivan Ogareff, and consequently that of Marfa
+Strogoff.
+
+If Nadia had been less energetic, she would have succumbed to this
+double blow. The interruption to her journey, the death of Michael,
+made her both desperate and excited. Divided, perhaps forever, from her
+father, after so many happy efforts had brought her near him, and, to
+crown her grief, separated from the intrepid companion whom God seemed
+to have placed in her way to lead her. The image of Michael Strogoff,
+struck before her eyes with a lance and disappearing beneath the waters
+of the Irtych, never left her thoughts.
+
+Could such a man have died thus? For whom was God reserving His miracles
+if this good man, whom a noble object was urging onwards, had been
+allowed to perish so miserably? Then anger would prevail over grief. The
+scene of the affront so strangely borne by her companion at the Ichim
+relay returned to her memory. Her blood boiled at the recollection.
+
+"Who will avenge him who can no longer avenge himself?" she said.
+
+And in her heart, she cried, "May it be I!" If before his death Michael
+had confided his secret to her, woman, aye girl though she was, she
+might have been able to carry to a successful conclusion the interrupted
+task of that brother whom God had so soon taken from her.
+
+Absorbed in these thoughts, it can be understood how Nadia could remain
+insensible to the miseries even of her captivity. Thus chance had united
+her to Marfa Strogoff without her having the least suspicion of who she
+was. How could she imagine that this old woman, a prisoner like herself,
+was the mother of him, whom she only knew as the merchant Nicholas
+Korpanoff? And on the other hand, how could Marfa guess that a bond of
+gratitude connected this young stranger with her son?
+
+The thing that first struck Nadia in Marfa Strogoff was the similarity
+in the way in which each bore her hard fate. This stoicism of the old
+woman under the daily hardships, this contempt of bodily suffering,
+could only be caused by a moral grief equal to her own. So Nadia
+thought; and she was not mistaken. It was an instinctive sympathy for
+that part of her misery which Marfa did not show which first drew Nadia
+towards her. This way of bearing her sorrow went to the proud heart of
+the young girl. She did not offer her services; she gave them. Marfa
+had neither to refuse nor accept them. In the difficult parts of the
+journey, the girl was there to support her. When the provisions were
+given out, the old woman would not have moved, but Nadia shared her
+small portion with her; and thus this painful journey was performed.
+Thanks to her companion, Marfa was able to follow the soldiers who
+guarded the prisoners without being fastened to a saddle-bow, as were
+many other unfortunate wretches, and thus dragged along this road of
+sorrow.
+
+"May God reward you, my daughter, for what you have done for my old
+age!" said Marfa Strogoff once, and for some time these were the only
+words exchanged between the two unfortunate beings.
+
+During these few days, which to them appeared like centuries, it would
+seem that the old woman and the girl would have been led to speak of
+their situation. But Marfa Strogoff, from a caution which may be easily
+understood, never spoke about herself except with the greatest brevity.
+She never made the smallest allusion to her son, nor to the unfortunate
+meeting.
+
+Nadia also, if not completely silent, spoke little. However, one day her
+heart overflowed, and she told all the events which had occurred from
+her departure from Wladimir to the death of Nicholas Korpanoff.
+
+All that her young companion told intensely interested the old Siberian.
+"Nicholas Korpanoff!" said she. "Tell me again about this Nicholas.
+I know only one man, one alone, in whom such conduct would not have
+astonished me. Nicholas Korpanoff! Was that really his name? Are you
+sure of it, my daughter?"
+
+"Why should he have deceived me in this," replied Nadia, "when he
+deceived me in no other way?"
+
+Moved, however, by a kind of presentiment, Marfa Strogoff put questions
+upon questions to Nadia.
+
+"You told me he was fearless, my daughter. You have proved that he has
+been so?" asked she.
+
+"Yes, fearless indeed!" replied Nadia.
+
+"It was just what my son would have done," said Marfa to herself.
+
+Then she resumed, "Did you not say that nothing stopped him, nor
+astonished him; that he was so gentle in his strength that you had
+a sister as well as a brother in him, and he watched over you like a
+mother?"
+
+"Yes, yes," said Nadia. "Brother, sister, mother--he has been all to
+me!"
+
+"And defended you like a lion?"
+
+"A lion indeed!" replied Nadia. "A lion, a hero!"
+
+"My son, my son!" thought the old Siberian. "But you said, however, that
+he bore a terrible insult at that post-house in Ichim?"
+
+"He did bear it," answered Nadia, looking down.
+
+"He bore it!" murmured Marfa, shuddering.
+
+"Mother, mother," cried Nadia, "do not blame him! He had a secret. A
+secret of which God alone is as yet the judge!"
+
+"And," said Marfa, raising her head and looking at Nadia as though she
+would read the depths of her heart, "in that hour of humiliation did you
+not despise this Nicholas Korpanoff?"
+
+"I admired without understanding him," replied the girl. "I never felt
+him more worthy of respect."
+
+The old woman was silent for a minute.
+
+"Was he tall?" she asked.
+
+"Very tall."
+
+"And very handsome? Come, speak, my daughter."
+
+"He was very handsome," replied Nadia, blushing.
+
+"It was my son! I tell you it was my son!" exclaimed the old woman,
+embracing Nadia.
+
+"Your son!" said Nadia amazed, "your son!"
+
+"Come," said Marfa; "let us get to the bottom of this, my child. Your
+companion, your friend, your protector had a mother. Did he never speak
+to you of his mother?"
+
+"Of his mother?" said Nadia. "He spoke to me of his mother as I spoke to
+him of my father--often, always. He adored her."
+
+"Nadia, Nadia, you have just told me about my own son," said the old
+woman.
+
+And she added impetuously, "Was he not going to see this mother, whom
+you say he loved, in Omsk?"
+
+"No," answered Nadia, "no, he was not."
+
+"Not!" cried Marfa. "You dare to tell me not!"
+
+"I say so: but it remains to me to tell you that from motives which
+outweighed everything else, motives which I do not know, I understand
+that Nicholas Korpanoff had to traverse the country completely in
+secret. To him it was a question of life and death, and still more, a
+question of duty and honor."
+
+"Duty, indeed, imperious duty," said the old Siberian, "of those who
+sacrifice everything, even the joy of giving a kiss, perhaps the last,
+to his old mother. All that you do not know, Nadia--all that I did not
+know myself--I now know. You have made me understand everything. But
+the light which you have thrown on the mysteries of my heart, I cannot
+return on yours. Since my son has not told you his secret, I must keep
+it. Forgive me, Nadia; I can never repay what you have done for me."
+
+"Mother, I ask you nothing," replied Nadia.
+
+All was thus explained to the old Siberian, all, even the conduct of her
+son with regard to herself in the inn at Omsk. There was no doubt that
+the young girl's companion was Michael Strogoff, and that a secret
+mission in the invaded country obliged him to conceal his quality of the
+Czar's courier.
+
+"Ah, my brave boy!" thought Marfa. "No, I will not betray you, and
+tortures shall not wrest from me the avowal that it was you whom I saw
+at Omsk."
+
+Marfa could with a word have paid Nadia for all her devotion to her. She
+could have told her that her companion, Nicholas Korpanoff, or rather
+Michael Strogoff, had not perished in the waters of the Irtych, since
+it was some days after that incident that she had met him, that she had
+spoken to him.
+
+But she restrained herself, she was silent, and contented herself with
+saying, "Hope, my child! Misfortune will not overwhelm you. You will see
+your father again; I feel it; and perhaps he who gave you the name of
+sister is not dead. God cannot have allowed your brave companion to
+perish. Hope, my child, hope! Do as I do. The mourning which I wear is
+not yet for my son."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III BLOW FOR BLOW
+
+SUCH were now the relative situations of Marfa Strogoff and Nadia.
+All was understood by the old Siberian, and though the young girl was
+ignorant that her much-regretted companion still lived, she at least
+knew his relationship to her whom she had made her mother; and she
+thanked God for having given her the joy of taking the place of the son
+whom the prisoner had lost.
+
+But what neither of them could know was that Michael, having been
+captured at Kolyvan, was in the same convoy and was on his way to Tomsk
+with them.
+
+The prisoners brought by Ivan Ogareff had been added to those already
+kept by the Emir in the Tartar camp. These unfortunate people,
+consisting of Russians, Siberians, soldiers and civilians, numbered some
+thousands, and formed a column which extended over several versts. Some
+among them being considered dangerous were handcuffed and fastened to
+a long chain. There were, too, women and children, many of the latter
+suspended to the pommels of the saddles, while the former were dragged
+mercilessly along the road on foot, or driven forward as if they were
+animals. The horsemen compelled them to maintain a certain order, and
+there were no laggards with the exception of those who fell never to
+rise again.
+
+In consequence of this arrangement, Michael Strogoff, marching in the
+first ranks of those who had left the Tartar camp--that is to say, among
+the Kolyvan prisoners--was unable to mingle with the prisoners who had
+arrived after him from Omsk. He had therefore no suspicion that his
+mother and Nadia were present in the convoy, nor did they suppose
+that he was among those in front. This journey from the camp to Tomsk,
+performed under the lashes and spear-points of the soldiers, proved
+fatal to many, and terrible to all. The prisoners traveled across the
+steppe, over a road made still more dusty by the passage of the Emir and
+his vanguard. Orders had been given to march rapidly. The short halts
+were rare. The hundred miles under a burning sky seemed interminable,
+though they were performed as rapidly as possible.
+
+The country, which extends from the right of the Obi to the base of the
+spur detached from the Sayanok Mountains, is very sterile. Only a few
+stunted and burnt-up shrubs here and there break the monotony of the
+immense plain. There was no cultivation, for there was no water; and
+it was water that the prisoners, parched by their painful march, most
+needed. To find a stream they must have diverged fifty versts eastward,
+to the very foot of the mountains.
+
+There flows the Tom, a little affluent of the Obi, which passes near
+Tomsk before losing itself in one of the great northern arteries. There
+water would have been abundant, the steppe less arid, the heat less
+severe. But the strictest orders had been given to the commanders of the
+convoy to reach Tomsk by the shortest way, for the Emir was much
+afraid of being taken in the flank and cut off by some Russian column
+descending from the northern provinces.
+
+It is useless to dwell upon the sufferings of the unhappy prisoners.
+Many hundreds fell on the steppe, where their bodies would lie until
+winter, when the wolves would devour the remnants of their bones.
+
+As Nadia helped the old Siberian, so in the same way did Michael
+render to his more feeble companions in misfortune such services as his
+situation allowed. He encouraged some, supported others, going to and
+fro, until a prick from a soldier's lance obliged him to resume the
+place which had been assigned him in the ranks.
+
+Why did he not endeavor to escape?
+
+The reason was that he had now quite determined not to venture until the
+steppe was safe for him. He was resolved in his idea of going as far as
+Tomsk "at the Emir's expense," and indeed he was right. As he observed
+the numerous detachments which scoured the plain on the convoy's flanks,
+now to the south, now to the north, it was evident that before he could
+have gone two versts he must have been recaptured. The Tartar horsemen
+swarmed--it actually appeared as if they sprang from the earth--like
+insects which a thunderstorm brings to the surface of the ground. Flight
+under these conditions would have been extremely difficult, if not
+impossible. The soldiers of the escort displayed excessive vigilance,
+for they would have paid for the slightest carelessness with their
+heads.
+
+At nightfall of the 15th of August, the convoy reached the little
+village of Zabediero, thirty versts from Tomsk.
+
+The prisoners' first movement would have been to rush into the river,
+but they were not allowed to leave the ranks until the halt had been
+organized. Although the current of the Tom was just now like a torrent,
+it might have favored the flight of some bold or desperate man, and
+the strictest measures of vigilance were taken. Boats, requisitioned
+at Zabediero, were brought up to the Tom and formed a line of obstacles
+impossible to pass. As to the encampment on the outskirts of the
+village, it was guarded by a cordon of sentinels.
+
+Michael Strogoff, who now naturally thought of escape, saw, after
+carefully surveying the situation, that under these conditions it was
+perfectly impossible; so, not wishing to compromise himself, he waited.
+
+The prisoners were to encamp for the whole night on the banks of the
+Tom, for the Emir had put off the entrance of his troops into Tomsk. It
+had been decided that a military fete should mark the inauguration of
+the Tartar headquarters in this important city. Feofar-Khan already
+occupied the fortress, but the bulk of his army bivouacked under its
+walls, waiting until the time came for them to make a solemn entry.
+
+Ivan Ogareff left the Emir at Tomsk, where both had arrived the evening
+before, and returned to the camp at Zabediero. From here he was to start
+the next day with the rear-guard of the Tartar army. A house had been
+arranged for him in which to pass the night. At sunrise horse and foot
+soldiers were to proceed to Tomsk, where the Emir wished to receive
+them with the pomp usual to Asiatic sovereigns. As soon as the halt was
+organized, the prisoners, worn out with their three days' journey, and
+suffering from burning thirst, could drink and take a little rest. The
+sun had already set, when Nadia, supporting Marfa Strogoff, reached the
+banks of the Tom. They had not till then been able to get through those
+who crowded the banks, but at last they came to drink in their turn.
+
+The old woman bent over the clear stream, and Nadia, plunging in her
+hand, carried it to Marfa's lips. Then she refreshed herself. They
+found new life in these welcome waters. Suddenly Nadia started up; an
+involuntary cry escaped her.
+
+Michael Strogoff was there, a few steps from her. It was he. The dying
+rays of the sun fell upon him.
+
+At Nadia's cry Michael started. But he had sufficient command over
+himself not to utter a word by which he might have been compromised. And
+yet, when he saw Nadia, he also recognized his mother.
+
+Feeling he could not long keep master of himself at this unexpected
+meeting, he covered his eyes with his hands and walked quickly away.
+
+Nadia's impulse was to run after him, but the old Siberian murmured in
+her ear, "Stay, my daughter!"
+
+"It is he!" replied Nadia, choking with emotion. "He lives, mother! It
+is he!"
+
+"It is my son," answered Marfa, "it is Michael Strogoff, and you see
+that I do not make a step towards him! Imitate me, my daughter."
+
+Michael had just experienced the most violent emotion which a man can
+feel. His mother and Nadia were there!
+
+The two prisoners who were always together in his heart, God had brought
+them together in this common misfortune. Did Nadia know who he was? Yes,
+for he had seen Marfa's gesture, holding her back as she was about to
+rush towards him. Marfa, then, had understood all, and kept his secret.
+
+During that night, Michael was twenty times on the point of looking for
+and joining his mother; but he knew that he must resist the longing he
+felt to take her in his arms, and once more press the hand of his young
+companion. The least imprudence might be fatal. He had besides sworn not
+to see his mother. Once at Tomsk, since he could not escape this very
+night, he would set off without having even embraced the two beings
+in whom all the happiness of his life was centered, and whom he should
+leave exposed to so many perils.
+
+Michael hoped that this fresh meeting at the Zabediero camp would have
+no disastrous consequences either to his mother or to himself. But he
+did not know that part of this scene, although it passed so rapidly, had
+been observed by Sangarre, Ogareff's spy.
+
+The Tsigane was there, a few paces off, on the bank, as usual, watching
+the old Siberian woman. She had not caught sight of Michael, for he
+disappeared before she had time to look around; but the mother's gesture
+as she kept back Nadia had not escaped her, and the look in Marfa's eyes
+told her all.
+
+It was now beyond doubt that Marfa Strogoff's son, the Czar's courier,
+was at this moment in Zabediero, among Ivan Ogareff's prisoners.
+Sangarre did not know him, but she knew that he was there. She did not
+then attempt to discover him, for it would have been impossible in the
+dark and the immense crowd.
+
+As for again watching Nadia and Marfa Strogoff, that was equally
+useless. It was evident that the two women would keep on their
+guard, and it would be impossible to overhear anything of a nature to
+compromise the courier of the Czar. The Tsigane's first thought was
+to tell Ivan Ogareff. She therefore immediately left the encampment. A
+quarter of an hour after, she reached Zabediero, and was shown into the
+house occupied by the Emir's lieutenant. Ogareff received the Tsigane
+directly.
+
+"What have you to tell me, Sangarre?" he asked.
+
+"Marfa Strogoff's son is in the encampment."
+
+"A prisoner?"
+
+"A prisoner."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Ogareff, "I shall know--"
+
+"You will know nothing, Ivan," replied Tsigane; "for you do not even
+know him by sight."
+
+"But you know him; you have seen him, Sangarre?"
+
+"I have not seen him; but his mother betrayed herself by a gesture,
+which told me everything."
+
+"Are you not mistaken?"
+
+"I am not mistaken."
+
+"You know the importance which I attach to the apprehension of this
+courier," said Ivan Ogareff. "If the letter which he has brought from
+Moscow reaches Irkutsk, if it is given to the Grand Duke, the Grand Duke
+will be on his guard, and I shall not be able to get at him. I must have
+that letter at any price. Now you come to tell me that the bearer of
+this letter is in my power. I repeat, Sangarre, are you not mistaken?"
+
+Ogareff spoke with great animation. His emotion showed the extreme
+importance he attached to the possession of this letter. Sangarre
+was not at all put out by the urgency with which Ogareff repeated his
+question. "I am not mistaken, Ivan," she said.
+
+"But, Sangarre, there are thousands of prisoners; and you say that you
+do not know Michael Strogoff."
+
+"No," answered the Tsigane, with a look of savage joy, "I do not know
+him; but his mother knows him. Ivan, we must make his mother speak."
+
+"To-morrow she shall speak!" cried Ogareff. So saying, he extended his
+hand to the Tsigane, who kissed it; for there is nothing servile in this
+act of respect, it being usual among the Northern races.
+
+Sangarre returned to the camp. She found out Nadia and Marfa Strogoff,
+and passed the night in watching them. Although worn out with fatigue,
+the old woman and the girl did not sleep. Their great anxiety kept them
+awake. Michael was living, but a prisoner. Did Ogareff know him, or
+would he not soon find him out? Nadia was occupied by the one thought
+that he whom she had thought dead still lived. But Marfa saw further
+into the future: and, although she did not care what became of herself,
+she had every reason to fear for her son.
+
+Sangarre, under cover of the night, had crept near the two women, and
+remained there several hours listening. She heard nothing. From an
+instinctive feeling of prudence not a word was exchanged between Nadia
+and Marfa Strogoff. The next day, the 16th of August, about ten in the
+morning, trumpet-calls resounded throughout the encampment. The Tartar
+soldiers were almost immediately under arms.
+
+Ivan Ogareff arrived, surrounded by a large staff of Tartar officers.
+His face was more clouded than usual, and his knitted brow gave signs of
+latent wrath which was waiting for an occasion to break forth.
+
+Michael Strogoff, hidden in a group of prisoners, saw this man pass. He
+had a presentiment that some catastrophe was imminent: for Ivan Ogareff
+knew now that Marfa was the mother of Michael Strogoff.
+
+Ogareff dismounted, and his escort cleared a large circle round him.
+Just then Sangarre approached him, and said, "I have no news."
+
+Ivan Ogareff's only reply was to give an order to one of his officers.
+Then the ranks of prisoners were brutally hurried up by the soldiers.
+The unfortunate people, driven on with whips, or pushed on with lances,
+arranged themselves round the camp. A strong guard of soldiers drawn up
+behind, rendered escape impossible.
+
+Silence then ensued, and, on a sign from Ivan Ogareff, Sangarre advanced
+towards the group, in the midst of which stood Marfa.
+
+The old Siberian saw her, and knew what was going to happen. A scornful
+smile passed over her face. Then leaning towards Nadia, she said in a
+low tone, "You know me no longer, my daughter. Whatever may happen, and
+however hard this trial may be, not a word, not a sign. It concerns him,
+and not me."
+
+At that moment Sangarre, having regarded her for an instant, put her
+hand on her shoulder.
+
+"What do you want with me?" said Marfa.
+
+"Come!" replied Sangarre, and pushing the old Siberian before her, she
+took her to Ivan Ogareff, in the middle of the cleared ground. Michael
+cast down his eyes that their angry flashings might not appear.
+
+Marfa, standing before Ivan Ogareff, drew herself up, crossed her arms
+on her breast, and waited.
+
+"You are Marfa Strogoff?" asked Ogareff.
+
+"Yes," replied the old Siberian calmly.
+
+"Do you retract what you said to me when, three days ago, I interrogated
+you at Omsk?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Then you do not know that your son, Michael Strogoff, courier of the
+Czar, has passed through Omsk?"
+
+"I do not know it."
+
+"And the man in whom you thought you recognized your son, was not he
+your son?"
+
+"He was not my son."
+
+"And since then you have not seen him amongst the prisoners?"
+
+"No."
+
+"If he were pointed out, would you recognize him?"
+
+"No."
+
+On this reply, which showed such determined resolution, a murmur was
+heard amongst the crowd.
+
+Ogareff could not restrain a threatening gesture.
+
+"Listen," said he to Marfa, "your son is here, and you shall immediately
+point him out to me."
+
+"No."
+
+"All these men, taken at Omsk and Kolyvan, will defile before you; and
+if you do not show me Michael Strogoff, you shall receive as many blows
+of the knout as men shall have passed before you."
+
+Ivan Ogareff saw that, whatever might be his threats, whatever might be
+the tortures to which he submitted her, the indomitable Siberian would
+not speak. To discover the courier of the Czar, he counted, then, not on
+her, but on Michael himself. He did not believe it possible that, when
+mother and son were in each other's presence, some involuntary movement
+would not betray him. Of course, had he wished to seize the imperial
+letter, he would simply have given orders to search all the prisoners;
+but Michael might have destroyed the letter, having learnt its contents;
+and if he were not recognized, if he were to reach Irkutsk, all Ivan
+Ogareff's plans would be baffled. It was thus not only the letter which
+the traitor must have, but the bearer himself.
+
+Nadia had heard all, and she now knew who was Michael Strogoff, and why
+he had wished to cross, without being recognized, the invaded provinces
+of Siberia.
+
+On an order from Ivan Ogareff the prisoners defiled, one by one, past
+Marfa, who remained immovable as a statue, and whose face expressed only
+perfect indifference.
+
+Her son was among the last. When in his turn he passed before his
+mother, Nadia shut her eyes that she might not see him. Michael was to
+all appearance unmoved, but the palm of his hand bled under his nails,
+which were pressed into them.
+
+Ivan Ogareff was baffled by mother and son.
+
+Sangarre, close to him, said one word, "The knout!"
+
+"Yes," cried Ogareff, who could no longer restrain himself; "the knout
+for this wretched old woman--the knout to the death!"
+
+A Tartar soldier bearing this terrible instrument of torture approached
+Marfa. The knout is composed of a certain number of leathern thongs,
+at the end of which are attached pieces of twisted iron wire. It is
+reckoned that a sentence to one hundred and twenty blows of this whip is
+equivalent to a sentence of death.
+
+Marfa knew it, but she knew also that no torture would make her speak.
+She was sacrificing her life.
+
+Marfa, seized by two soldiers, was forced on her knees on the ground.
+Her dress torn off left her back bare. A saber was placed before her
+breast, at a few inches' distance only. Directly she bent beneath her
+suffering, her breast would be pierced by the sharp steel.
+
+The Tartar drew himself up. He waited. "Begin!" said Ogareff. The whip
+whistled in the air.
+
+But before it fell a powerful hand stopped the Tartar's arm. Michael was
+there. He had leapt forward at this horrible scene. If at the relay at
+Ichim he had restrained himself when Ogareff's whip had struck him, here
+before his mother, who was about to be struck, he could not do so. Ivan
+Ogareff had succeeded.
+
+"Michael Strogoff!" cried he. Then advancing, "Ah, the man of Ichim?"
+
+"Himself!" said Michael. And raising the knout he struck Ogareff a sharp
+blow across the face. "Blow for blow!" said he.
+
+"Well repaid!" cried a voice concealed by the tumult.
+
+Twenty soldiers threw themselves on Michael, and in another instant he
+would have been slain.
+
+But Ogareff, who on being struck had uttered a cry of rage and pain,
+stopped them. "This man is reserved for the Emir's judgment," said he.
+"Search him!"
+
+The letter with the imperial arms was found in Michael's bosom; he had
+not had time to destroy it; it was handed to Ogareff.
+
+The voice which had pronounced the words, "Well repaid!" was that of
+no other than Alcide Jolivet. "Par-dieu!" said he to Blount, "they are
+rough, these people. Acknowledge that we owe our traveling companion
+a good turn. Korpanoff or Strogoff is worthy of it. Oh, that was fine
+retaliation for the little affair at Ichim."
+
+"Yes, retaliation truly," replied Blount; "but Strogoff is a dead man.
+I suspect that, for his own interest at all events, it would have
+been better had he not possessed quite so lively a recollection of the
+event."
+
+"And let his mother perish under the knout?"
+
+"Do you think that either she or his sister will be a bit better off
+from this outbreak of his?"
+
+"I do not know or think anything except that I should have done much
+the same in his position," replied Alcide. "What a scar the Colonel has
+received! Bah! one must boil over sometimes. We should have had water in
+our veins instead of blood had it been incumbent on us to be always and
+everywhere unmoved to wrath."
+
+"A neat little incident for our journals," observed Blount, "if only
+Ivan Ogareff would let us know the contents of that letter."
+
+Ivan Ogareff, when he had stanched the blood which was trickling
+down his face, had broken the seal. He read and re-read the letter
+deliberately, as if he was determined to discover everything it
+contained.
+
+Then having ordered that Michael, carefully bound and guarded, should
+be carried on to Tomsk with the other prisoners, he took command of
+the troops at Zabediero, and, amid the deafening noise of drums and
+trumpets, he marched towards the town where the Emir awaited him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
+
+TOMSK, founded in 1604, nearly in the heart of the Siberian provinces,
+is one of the most important towns in Asiatic Russia. Tobolsk, situated
+above the sixtieth parallel; Irkutsk, built beyond the hundredth
+meridian--have seen Tomsk increase at their expense.
+
+And yet Tomsk, as has been said, is not the capital of this important
+province. It is at Omsk that the Governor-General of the province and
+the official world reside. But Tomsk is the most considerable town of
+that territory. The country being rich, the town is so likewise, for
+it is in the center of fruitful mines. In the luxury of its houses, its
+arrangements, and its equipages, it might rival the greatest European
+capitals. It is a city of millionaires, enriched by the spade and
+pickax, and though it has not the honor of being the residence of the
+Czar's representative, it can boast of including in the first rank
+of its notables the chief of the merchants of the town, the principal
+grantees of the imperial government's mines.
+
+But the millionaires were fled now, and except for the crouching poor,
+the town stood empty to the hordes of Feofar-Khan. At four o'clock the
+Emir made his entry into the square, greeted by a flourish of trumpets,
+the rolling sound of the big drums, salvoes of artillery and musketry.
+
+Feofar mounted his favorite horse, which carried on its head an aigrette
+of diamonds. The Emir still wore his uniform. He was accompanied by
+a numerous staff, and beside him walked the Khans of Khokhand and
+Koundouge and the grand dignitaries of the Khanats.
+
+At the same moment appeared on the terrace the chief of Feofar's wives,
+the queen, if this title may be given to the sultana of the states
+of Bokhara. But, queen or slave, this woman of Persian origin was
+wonderfully beautiful. Contrary to the Mahometan custom, and no doubt by
+some caprice of the Emir, she had her face uncovered. Her hair, divided
+into four plaits, fell over her dazzling white shoulders, scarcely
+concealed by a veil of silk worked in gold, which fell from the back
+of a cap studded with gems of the highest value. Under her blue-silk
+petticoat, fell the "zirdjameh" of silken gauze, and above the sash
+lay the "pirahn." But from the head to the little feet, such was the
+profusion of jewels--gold beads strung on silver threads, chaplets of
+turquoises, "firouzehs" from the celebrated mines of Elbourz, necklaces
+of cornelians, agates, emeralds, opals, and sapphires--that her dress
+seemed to be literally made of precious stones. The thousands of
+diamonds which sparkled on her neck, arms, hands, at her waist, and at
+her feet might have been valued at almost countless millions of roubles.
+
+The Emir and the Khans dismounted, as did the dignitaries who escorted
+them. All entered a magnificent tent erected on the center of the first
+terrace. Before the tent, as usual, the Koran was laid.
+
+Feofar's lieutenant did not make them wait, and before five o'clock the
+trumpets announced his arrival. Ivan Ogareff--the Scarred Cheek, as
+he was already nick-named--wearing the uniform of a Tartar officer,
+dismounted before the Emir's tent. He was accompanied by a party of
+soldiers from the camp at Zabediero, who ranged up at the sides of the
+square, in the middle of which a place for the sports was reserved. A
+large scar could be distinctly seen cut obliquely across the traitor's
+face.
+
+Ogareff presented his principal officers to the Emir, who, without
+departing from the coldness which composed the main part of his dignity,
+received them in a way which satisfied them that they stood well in the
+good graces of their chief.
+
+At least so thought Harry Blount and Alcide Jolivet, the two
+inseparables, now associated together in the chase after news. After
+leaving Zabediero, they had proceeded rapidly to Tomsk. The plan they
+had agreed upon was to leave the Tartars as soon as possible, and to
+join a Russian regiment, and, if they could, to go with them to Irkutsk.
+All that they had seen of the invasion, its burnings, its pillages, its
+murders, had perfectly sickened them, and they longed to be among the
+ranks of the Siberian army. Jolivet had told his companion that he could
+not leave Tomsk without making a sketch of the triumphal entry of the
+Tartar troops, if it was only to satisfy his cousin's curiosity; but the
+same evening they both intended to take the road to Irkutsk, and being
+well mounted hoped to distance the Emir's scouts.
+
+Alcide and Blount mingled therefore in the crowd, so as to lose no
+detail of a festival which ought to supply them with a hundred good
+lines for an article. They admired the magnificence of Feofar-Khan, his
+wives, his officers, his guards, and all the Eastern pomp, of which the
+ceremonies of Europe can give not the least idea. But they turned away
+with disgust when Ivan Ogareff presented himself before the Emir, and
+waited with some impatience for the amusements to begin.
+
+"You see, my dear Blount," said Alcide, "we have come too soon, like
+honest citizens who like to get their money's worth. All this is before
+the curtain rises, it would have been better to arrive only for the
+ballet."
+
+"What ballet?" asked Blount.
+
+"The compulsory ballet, to be sure. But see, the curtain is going to
+rise." Alcide Jolivet spoke as if he had been at the Opera, and taking
+his glass from its case, he prepared, with the air of a connoisseur, "to
+examine the first act of Feofar's company."
+
+A painful ceremony was to precede the sports. In fact, the triumph of
+the vanquisher could not be complete without the public humiliation of
+the vanquished. This was why several hundreds of prisoners were brought
+under the soldiers' whips. They were destined to march past Feofar-Khan
+and his allies before being crammed with their companions into the
+prisons in the town.
+
+In the first ranks of these prisoners figured Michael Strogoff. As
+Ogareff had ordered, he was specially guarded by a file of soldiers. His
+mother and Nadia were there also.
+
+The old Siberian, although energetic enough when her own safety was in
+question, was frightfully pale. She expected some terrible scene. It was
+not without reason that her son had been brought before the Emir. She
+therefore trembled for him. Ivan Ogareff was not a man to forgive
+having been struck in public by the knout, and his vengeance would
+be merciless. Some frightful punishment familiar to the barbarians
+of Central Asia would, no doubt, be inflicted on Michael Ogareff had
+protected him against the soldiers because he well knew what would
+happen by reserving him for the justice of the Emir.
+
+The mother and son had not been able to speak together since the
+terrible scene in the camp at Zabediero. They had been pitilessly kept
+apart--a bitter aggravation of their misery, for it would have been some
+consolation to have been together during these days of captivity. Marfa
+longed to ask her son's pardon for the harm she had unintentionally done
+him, for she reproached herself with not having commanded her maternal
+feelings. If she had restrained herself in that post-house at Omsk,
+when she found herself face to face with him, Michael would have passed
+unrecognized, and all these misfortunes would have been avoided.
+
+Michael, on his side, thought that if his mother was there, if Ogareff
+had brought her with him, it was to make her suffer with the sight of
+his own punishment, or perhaps some frightful death was reserved for her
+also.
+
+As to Nadia, she only asked herself how she could save them both, how
+come to the aid of son and mother. As yet she could only wonder, but
+she felt instinctively that she must above everything avoid drawing
+attention upon herself, that she must conceal herself, make herself
+insignificant. Perhaps she might at least gnaw through the meshes which
+imprisoned the lion. At any rate if any opportunity was given her she
+would seize upon it, and sacrifice herself, if need be, for the son of
+Marfa Strogoff.
+
+In the meantime the greater part of the prisoners were passing before
+the Emir, and as they passed each was obliged to prostrate himself,
+with his forehead in the dust, in token of servitude. Slavery begins by
+humiliation. When the unfortunate people were too slow in bending, the
+rough guards threw them violently to the ground.
+
+Alcide Jolivet and his companion could not witness such a sight without
+feeling indignant.
+
+"It is cowardly--let us go," said Alcide.
+
+"No," answered Blount; "we must see it all."
+
+"See it all!--ah!" cried Alcide, suddenly, grasping his companion's arm.
+
+"What is the matter with you?" asked the latter.
+
+"Look, Blount; it is she!"
+
+"What she?"
+
+"The sister of our traveling companion--alone, and a prisoner! We must
+save her."
+
+"Calm yourself," replied Blount coolly. "Any interference on our part in
+behalf of the young girl would be worse than useless."
+
+Alcide Jolivet, who had been about to rush forward, stopped, and
+Nadia--who had not perceived them, her features being half hidden by
+her hair--passed in her turn before the Emir without attracting his
+attention.
+
+However, after Nadia came Marfa Strogoff; and as she did not throw
+herself quickly in the dust, the guards brutally pushed her. She fell.
+
+Her son struggled so violently that the soldiers who were guarding him
+could scarcely hold him back. But the old woman rose, and they were
+about to drag her on, when Ogareff interposed, saying, "Let that woman
+stay!"
+
+As to Nadia, she happily regained the crowd of prisoners. Ivan Ogareff
+had taken no notice of her.
+
+Michael was then led before the Emir, and there he remained standing,
+without casting down his eyes.
+
+"Your forehead to the ground!" cried Ogareff.
+
+"No!" answered Michael.
+
+Two soldiers endeavored to make him bend, but they were themselves laid
+on the ground by a buffet from the young man's fist.
+
+Ogareff approached Michael. "You shall die!" he said.
+
+"I can die," answered Michael fiercely; "but your traitor's face, Ivan,
+will not the less carry forever the infamous brand of the knout."
+
+At this reply Ivan Ogareff became perfectly livid.
+
+"Who is this prisoner?" asked the Emir, in a tone of voice terrible from
+its very calmness.
+
+"A Russian spy," answered Ogareff. In asserting that Michael was a spy
+he knew that the sentence pronounced against him would be terrible.
+
+The Emir made a sign at which all the crowd bent low their heads. Then
+he pointed with his hand to the Koran, which was brought him. He opened
+the sacred book and placed his finger on one of its pages.
+
+It was chance, or rather, according to the ideas of these Orientals, God
+Himself who was about to decide the fate of Michael Strogoff. The people
+of Central Asia give the name of "fal" to this practice. After having
+interpreted the sense of the verse touched by the judge's finger, they
+apply the sentence whatever it may be.
+
+The Emir had let his finger rest on the page of the Koran. The chief of
+the Ulemas then approached, and read in a loud voice a verse which ended
+with these words, "And he will no more see the things of this earth."
+
+"Russian spy!" exclaimed Feofar-Kahn in a voice trembling with fury,
+"you have come to see what is going on in the Tartar camp. Then look
+while you may."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V "LOOK WHILE YOU MAY!"
+
+MICHAEL was held before the Emir's throne, at the foot of the terrace,
+his hands bound behind his back. His mother overcome at last by mental
+and physical torture, had sunk to the ground, daring neither to look nor
+listen.
+
+"Look while you may," exclaimed Feofar-Kahn, stretching his arm towards
+Michael in a threatening manner. Doubtless Ivan Ogareff, being well
+acquainted with Tartar customs, had taken in the full meaning of these
+words, for his lips curled for an instant in a cruel smile; he then took
+his place by Feofar-Khan.
+
+A trumpet call was heard. This was the signal for the amusements to
+begin. "Here comes the ballet," said Alcide to Blount; "but, contrary to
+our customs, these barbarians give it before the drama."
+
+Michael had been commanded to look at everything. He looked. A troop
+of dancers poured into the open space before the Emir's tent. Different
+Tartar instruments, the "doutare," a long-handled guitar, the "kobize,"
+a kind of violoncello, the "tschibyzga," a long reed flute; wind
+instruments, tom-toms, tambourines, united with the deep voices of the
+singers, formed a strange harmony. Added to this were the strains of an
+aerial orchestra, composed of a dozen kites, which, fastened by strings
+to their centers, resounded in the breeze like AEolian harps.
+
+Then the dancers began. The performers were all of Persian origin;
+they were no longer slaves, but exercised their profession at liberty.
+Formerly they figured officially in the ceremonies at the court of
+Teheran, but since the accession of the reigning family, banished or
+treated with contempt, they had been compelled to seek their fortune
+elsewhere. They wore the national costume, and were adorned with a
+profusion of jewels. Little triangles of gold, studded with jewels,
+glittered in their ears. Circles of silver, marked with black,
+surrounded their necks and legs.
+
+These performers gracefully executed various dances, sometimes alone,
+sometimes in groups. Their faces were uncovered, but from time to time
+they threw a light veil over their heads, and a gauze cloud passed over
+their bright eyes as smoke over a starry sky. Some of these Persians
+wore leathern belts embroidered with pearls, from which hung little
+triangular bags. From these bags, embroidered with golden filigree, they
+drew long narrow bands of scarlet silk, on which were braided verses
+of the Koran. These bands, which they held between them, formed a belt
+under which the other dancers darted; and, as they passed each verse,
+following the precept it contained, they either prostrated themselves
+on the earth or lightly bounded upwards, as though to take a place among
+the houris of Mohammed's heaven.
+
+But what was remarkable, and what struck Alcide, was that the Persians
+appeared rather indolent than fiery. Their passion had deserted them,
+and, by the kind of dances as well as by their execution, they recalled
+rather the calm and self-possessed nauch girls of India than the
+impassioned dancers of Egypt.
+
+When this was over, a stern voice was heard saying:
+
+"Look while you may!"
+
+The man who repeated the Emir's words--a tall spare Tartar--was he who
+carried out the sentences of Feofar-Khan against offenders. He had taken
+his place behind Michael, holding in his hand a broad curved saber, one
+of those Damascene blades which are forged by the celebrated armorers of
+Karschi or Hissar.
+
+Behind him guards were carrying a tripod supporting a chafing-dish
+filled with live coals. No smoke arose from this, but a light vapor
+surrounded it, due to the incineration of a certain aromatic and
+resinous substance which he had thrown on the surface.
+
+The Persians were succeeded by another party of dancers, whom Michael
+recognized. The journalists also appeared to recognize them, for Blount
+said to his companion, "These are the Tsiganes of Nijni-Novgorod."
+
+"No doubt of it," cried Alcide. "Their eyes, I imagine, bring more money
+to these spies than their legs."
+
+In putting them down as agents in the Emir's service, Alcide Jolivet
+was, by all accounts, not mistaken.
+
+In the first rank of the Tsiganes, Sangarre appeared, superb in her
+strange and picturesque costume, which set off still further her
+remarkable beauty.
+
+Sangarre did not dance, but she stood as a statue in the midst of the
+performers, whose style of dancing was a combination of that of all
+those countries through which their race had passed--Turkey, Bohemia,
+Egypt, Italy, and Spain. They were enlivened by the sound of cymbals,
+which clashed on their arms, and by the hollow sounds of the "daires"--a
+sort of tambourine played with the fingers.
+
+Sangarre, holding one of those daires, which she played between her
+hands, encouraged this troupe of veritable corybantes. A young Tsigane,
+of about fifteen years of age, then advanced. He held in his hand a
+"doutare," strings of which he made to vibrate by a simple movement of
+the nails. He sung. During the singing of each couplet, of very peculiar
+rhythm, a dancer took her position by him and remained there immovable,
+listening to him, but each time that the burden came from the lips of
+the young singer, she resumed her dance, dinning in his ears with her
+daire, and deafening him with the clashing of her cymbals. Then, after
+the last chorus, the remainder surrounded the Tsigane in the windings of
+their dance.
+
+At that moment a shower of gold fell from the hands of the Emir and his
+train, and from the hands of his officers of all ranks; to the noise
+which the pieces made as they struck the cymbals of the dancers, being
+added the last murmurs of the doutares and tambourines.
+
+"Lavish as robbers," said Alcide in the ear of his companion. And in
+fact it was the result of plunder which was falling; for, with the
+Tartar tomans and sequins, rained also Russian ducats and roubles.
+
+Then silence followed for an instant, and the voice of the executioner,
+who laid his hand on Michael's shoulder, once more pronounced the words,
+which this repetition rendered more and more sinister:
+
+"Look while you may"
+
+But this time Alcide observed that the executioner no longer held the
+saber bare in his hand.
+
+Meanwhile the sun had sunk behind the horizon. A semi-obscurity began
+to envelop the plain. The mass of cedars and pines became blacker and
+blacker, and the waters of the Tom, totally obscured in the distance,
+mingled with the approaching shadows.
+
+But at that instant several hundreds of slaves, bearing lighted torches,
+entered the square. Led by Sangarre, Tsiganes and Persians reappeared
+before the Emir's throne, and showed off, by the contrast, their dances
+of styles so different. The instruments of the Tartar orchestra sounded
+forth in harmony still more savage, accompanied by the guttural cries of
+the singers. The kites, which had fallen to the ground, once more winged
+their way into the sky, each bearing a parti-colored lantern, and under
+a fresher breeze their harps vibrated with intenser sound in the midst
+of the aerial illumination.
+
+Then a squadron of Tartars, in their brilliant uniforms, mingled in
+the dances, whose wild fury was increasing rapidly, and then began a
+performance which produced a very strange effect. Soldiers came on the
+ground, armed with bare sabers and long pistols, and, as they executed
+dances, they made the air re-echo with the sudden detonations of their
+firearms, which immediately set going the rumbling of the tambourines,
+and grumblings of the daires, and the gnashing of doutares.
+
+Their arms, covered with a colored powder of some metallic ingredient,
+after the Chinese fashion, threw long jets--red, green, and blue--so
+that the groups of dancers seemed to be in the midst of fireworks.
+In some respects, this performance recalled the military dance of
+the ancients, in the midst of naked swords; but this Tartar dance
+was rendered yet more fantastic by the colored fire, which wound,
+serpent-like, above the dancers, whose dresses seemed to be embroidered
+with fiery hems. It was like a kaleidoscope of sparks, whose infinite
+combinations varied at each movement of the dancers.
+
+Though it may be thought that a Parisian reporter would be perfectly
+hardened to any scenic effect, which our modern ideas have carried so
+far, yet Alcide Jolivet could not restrain a slight movement of the
+head, which at home, between the Boulevard Montmartre and La Madeleine
+would have said--"Very fair, very fair."
+
+Then, suddenly, at a signal, all the lights of the fantasia were
+extinguished, the dances ceased, and the performers disappeared. The
+ceremony was over, and the torches alone lighted up the plateau, which a
+few instants before had been so brilliantly illuminated.
+
+On a sign from the Emir, Michael was led into the middle of the square.
+
+"Blount," said Alcide to his companion, "are you going to see the end of
+all this?"
+
+"No, that I am not," replied Blount.
+
+"The readers of the Daily Telegraph are, I hope, not very eager for the
+details of an execution a la mode Tartare?"
+
+"No more than your cousin!"
+
+"Poor fellow!" added Alcide, as he watched Michael. "That valiant
+soldier should have fallen on the field of battle!"
+
+"Can we do nothing to save him?" said Blount.
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+The reporters recalled Michael's generous conduct towards them; they
+knew now through what trials he must have passed, ever obedient to his
+duty; and in the midst of these Tartars, to whom pity is unknown, they
+could do nothing for him. Having little desire to be present at the
+torture reserved for the unfortunate man, they returned to the town.
+An hour later, they were on the road to Irkutsk, for it was among
+the Russians that they intended to follow what Alcide called, by
+anticipation, "the campaign of revenge."
+
+Meantime, Michael was standing ready, his eyes returning the Emir's
+haughty glance, while his countenance assumed an expression of intense
+scorn whenever he cast his looks on Ivan Ogareff. He was prepared to
+die, yet not a single sign of weakness escaped him.
+
+The spectators, waiting around the square, as well as Feofar-Khan's
+body-guard, to whom this execution was only one of the attractions, were
+eagerly expecting it. Then, their curiosity satisfied, they would rush
+off to enjoy the pleasures of intoxication.
+
+The Emir made a sign. Michael was thrust forward by his guards to the
+foot of the terrace, and Feofar said to him, "You came to see our goings
+out and comings in, Russian spy. You have seen for the last time. In an
+instant your eyes will be forever shut to the day."
+
+Michael's fate was to be not death, but blindness; loss of sight, more
+terrible perhaps than loss of life. The unhappy man was condemned to be
+blinded.
+
+However, on hearing the Emir's sentence Michael's heart did not grow
+faint. He remained unmoved, his eyes wide open, as though he wished
+to concentrate his whole life into one last look. To entreat pity from
+these savage men would be useless, besides, it would be unworthy of him.
+He did not even think of it. His thoughts were condensed on his mission,
+which had apparently so completely failed; on his mother, on Nadia, whom
+he should never more see! But he let no sign appear of the emotion he
+felt. Then, a feeling of vengeance to be accomplished came over him.
+"Ivan," said he, in a stern voice, "Ivan the Traitor, the last menace of
+my eyes shall be for you!"
+
+Ivan Ogareff shrugged his shoulders.
+
+But Michael was not to be looking at Ivan when his eyes were put out.
+Marfa Strogoff stood before him.
+
+"My mother!" cried he. "Yes! yes! my last glance shall be for you, and
+not for this wretch! Stay there, before me! Now I see once more your
+well-beloved face! Now shall my eyes close as they rest upon it...!"
+
+The old woman, without uttering a word, advanced.
+
+"Take that woman away!" said Ivan.
+
+Two soldiers were about to seize her, but she stepped back and remained
+standing a few paces from Michael.
+
+The executioner appeared. This time, he held his saber bare in his hand,
+and this saber he had just drawn from the chafing-dish, where he had
+brought it to a white heat. Michael was going to be blinded in the
+Tartar fashion, with a hot blade passed before his eyes!
+
+Michael did not attempt to resist. Nothing existed before his eyes but
+his mother, whom his eyes seemed to devour. All his life was in that
+last look.
+
+Marfa Strogoff, her eyes open wide, her arms extended towards where he
+stood, was gazing at him. The incandescent blade passed before Michael's
+eyes.
+
+A despairing cry was heard. His aged mother fell senseless to the
+ground. Michael Strogoff was blind.
+
+His orders executed, the Emir retired with his train. There remained
+in the square only Ivan Ogareff and the torch bearers. Did the wretch
+intend to insult his victim yet further, and yet to give him a parting
+blow?
+
+Ivan Ogareff slowly approached Michael, who, feeling him coming, drew
+himself up. Ivan drew from his pocket the Imperial letter, he opened it,
+and with supreme irony he held it up before the sightless eyes of the
+Czar's courier, saying, "Read, now, Michael Strogoff, read, and go and
+repeat at Irkutsk what you have read. The true Courier of the Czar is
+Ivan Ogareff."
+
+This said, the traitor thrust the letter into his breast. Then, without
+looking round he left the square, followed by the torch-bearers.
+
+Michael was left alone, at a few paces from his mother, lying lifeless,
+perhaps dead. He heard in the distance cries and songs, the varied
+noises of a wild debauch. Tomsk, illuminated, glittered and gleamed.
+
+Michael listened. The square was silent and deserted. He went, groping
+his way, towards the place where his mother had fallen. He found her
+with his hand, he bent over her, he put his face close to hers, he
+listened for the beating of her heart. Then he murmured a few words.
+
+Did Marfa still live, and did she hear her son's words? Whether she
+did so or not, she made not the slightest movement. Michael kissed her
+forehead and her white locks. He then raised himself, and, groping with
+his foot, trying to stretch out his hand to guide himself, he walked by
+degrees to the edge of the square.
+
+Suddenly Nadia appeared. She walked straight to her companion. A knife
+in her hand cut the cords which bound Michael's arms. The blind man knew
+not who had freed him, for Nadia had not spoken a word.
+
+But this done: "Brother!" said she.
+
+"Nadia!" murmured Michael, "Nadia!"
+
+"Come, brother," replied Nadia, "use my eyes whilst yours sleep. I will
+lead you to Irkutsk."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI A FRIEND ON THE HIGHWAY
+
+HALF an hour afterwards, Michael and Nadia had left Tomsk.
+
+Many others of the prisoners were that night able to escape from the
+Tartars, for officers and soldiers, all more or less intoxicated,
+had unconsciously relaxed the vigilant guard which they had hitherto
+maintained. Nadia, after having been carried off with the other
+prisoners, had been able to escape and return to the square, at the
+moment when Michael was led before the Emir. There, mingling with the
+crowd, she had witnessed the terrible scene. Not a cry escaped her when
+the scorching blade passed before her companion's eyes. She kept, by her
+strength of will, mute and motionless. A providential inspiration bade
+her restrain herself and retain her liberty that she might lead Marfa's
+son to that goal which he had sworn to reach. Her heart for an instant
+ceased to beat when the aged Siberian woman fell senseless to the
+ground, but one thought restored her to her former energy. "I will be
+the blind man's dog," said she.
+
+On Ogareff's departure, Nadia had concealed herself in the shade. She
+had waited till the crowd left the square. Michael, abandoned as a
+wretched being from whom nothing was to be feared, was alone. She saw
+him draw himself towards his mother, bend over her, kiss her forehead,
+then rise and grope his way in flight.
+
+A few instants later, she and he, hand in hand, had descended the steep
+slope, when, after having followed the high banks of the Tom to the
+furthest extremity of the town, they happily found a breach in the
+inclosure.
+
+The road to Irkutsk was the only one which penetrated towards the east.
+It could not be mistaken. It was possible that on the morrow, after some
+hours of carousal, the scouts of the Emir, once more scattering over
+the steppes, might cut off all communication. It was of the greatest
+importance therefore to get in advance of them. How could Nadia bear the
+fatigues of that night, from the 16th to the 17th of August? How
+could she have found strength for so long a stage? How could her feet,
+bleeding under that forced march, have carried her thither? It is almost
+incomprehensible. But it is none the less true that on the next morning,
+twelve hours after their departure from Tomsk, Michael and she reached
+the town of Semilowskoe, after a journey of thirty-five miles.
+
+Michael had not uttered a single word. It was not Nadia who held his
+hand, it was he who held that of his companion during the whole of that
+night; but, thanks to that trembling little hand which guided him, he
+had walked at his ordinary pace.
+
+Semilowskoe was almost entirely abandoned. The inhabitants had fled.
+Not more than two or three houses were still occupied. All that the town
+contained, useful or precious, had been carried off in wagons. However,
+Nadia was obliged to make a halt of a few hours. They both required food
+and rest.
+
+The young girl led her companion to the extremity of the town. There
+they found an empty house, the door wide open. An old rickety wooden
+bench stood in the middle of the room, near the high stove which is to
+be found in all Siberian houses. They silently seated themselves.
+
+Nadia gazed in her companion's face as she had never before gazed. There
+was more than gratitude, more than pity, in that look. Could Michael
+have seen her, he would have read in that sweet desolate gaze a world of
+devotion and tenderness.
+
+The eyelids of the blind man, made red by the heated blade, fell half
+over his eyes. The pupils seemed to be singularly enlarged. The rich
+blue of the iris was darker than formerly. The eyelashes and eyebrows
+were partly burnt, but in appearance, at least, the old penetrating look
+appeared to have undergone no change. If he could no longer see, if his
+blindness was complete, it was because the sensibility of the retina and
+optic nerve was radically destroyed by the fierce heat of the steel.
+
+Then Michael stretched out his hands.
+
+"Are you there, Nadia?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," replied the young girl; "I am close to you, and I will not go
+away from you, Michael."
+
+At his name, pronounced by Nadia for the first time, a thrill passed
+through Michael's frame. He perceived that his companion knew all, who
+he was.
+
+"Nadia," replied he, "we must separate!"
+
+"We separate? How so, Michael?"
+
+"I must not be an obstacle to your journey! Your father is waiting for
+you at Irkutsk! You must rejoin your father!"
+
+"My father would curse me, Michael, were I to abandon you now, after all
+you have done for me!"
+
+"Nadia, Nadia," replied Michael, "you should think only of your father!"
+
+"Michael," replied Nadia, "you have more need of me than my father. Do
+you mean to give up going to Irkutsk?"
+
+"Never!" cried Michael, in a tone which plainly showed that none of his
+energy was gone.
+
+"But you have not the letter!"
+
+"That letter of which Ivan Ogareff robbed me! Well! I shall manage
+without it, Nadia! They have treated me as a spy! I will act as a spy! I
+will go and repeat at Irkutsk all I have seen, all I have heard; I swear
+it by Heaven above! The traitor shall meet me one day face to face! But
+I must arrive at Irkutsk before him."
+
+"And yet you speak of our separating, Michael?"
+
+"Nadia, they have taken everything from me!"
+
+"I have some roubles still, and my eyes! I can see for you, Michael; and
+I will lead you thither, where you could not go alone!"
+
+"And how shall we go?"
+
+"On foot."
+
+"And how shall we live?"
+
+"By begging."
+
+"Let us start, Nadia."
+
+"Come, Michael."
+
+The two young people no longer kept the names "brother" and "sister."
+In their common misfortune, they felt still closer united. They left
+the house after an hour's repose. Nadia had procured in the town some
+morsels of "tchornekhleb," a sort of barley bread, and a little mead,
+called "meod" in Russia. This had cost her nothing, for she had already
+begun her plan of begging. The bread and mead had in some degree
+appeased Michael's hunger and thirst. Nadia gave him the lion's share
+of this scanty meal. He ate the pieces of bread his companion gave him,
+drank from the gourd she held to his lips.
+
+"Are you eating, Nadia?" he asked several times.
+
+"Yes, Michael," invariably replied the young girl, who contented herself
+with what her companion left.
+
+Michael and Nadia quitted Semilowskoe, and once more set out on the
+laborious road to Irkutsk. The girl bore up in a marvelous way against
+fatigue. Had Michael seen her, perhaps he would not have had the courage
+to go on. But Nadia never complained, and Michael, hearing no sigh,
+walked at a speed he was unable to repress. And why? Did he still expect
+to keep before the Tartars? He was on foot, without money; he was blind,
+and if Nadia, his only guide, were to be separated from him, he could
+only lie down by the side of the road and there perish miserably.
+But if, on the other hand, by energetic perseverance he could reach
+Krasnoiarsk, all was perhaps not lost, since the governor, to whom he
+would make himself known, would not hesitate to give him the means of
+reaching Irkutsk.
+
+Michael walked on, speaking little, absorbed in his own thoughts. He
+held Nadia's hand. The two were in incessant communication. It seemed
+to them that they had no need of words to exchange their thoughts. From
+time to time Michael said, "Speak to me, Nadia."
+
+"Why should I, Michael? We are thinking together!" the young girl
+would reply, and contrived that her voice should not betray her extreme
+fatigue.
+
+But sometimes, as if her heart had ceased to beat for an instant, her
+limbs tottered, her steps flagged, her arms fell to her sides, she
+dropped behind. Michael then stopped, he fixed his eyes on the poor
+girl, as though he would try to pierce the gloom which surrounded him;
+his breast heaved; then, supporting his companion more than before, he
+started on afresh.
+
+However, amidst these continual miseries, a fortunate circumstance on
+that day occurred which it appeared likely would considerably ease
+their fatigue. They had been walking from Semilowskoe for two hours when
+Michael stopped.
+
+"Is there no one on the road?"
+
+"Not a single soul," replied Nadia.
+
+"Do you not hear some noise behind us? If they are Tartars we must hide.
+Keep a good look-out!"
+
+"Wait, Michael!" replied Nadia, going back a few steps to where the road
+turned to the right.
+
+Michael Strogoff waited alone for a minute, listening attentively.
+
+Nadia returned almost immediately and said, "It is a cart. A young man
+is leading it."
+
+"Is he alone?"
+
+"Alone."
+
+Michael hesitated an instant. Should he hide? or should he, on the
+contrary, try to find a place in the vehicle, if not for himself, at
+least for her? For himself, he would be quite content to lay one hand
+on the cart, to push it if necessary, for his legs showed no sign of
+failing him; but he felt sure that Nadia, compelled to walk ever since
+they crossed the Obi, that is, for eight days, must be almost exhausted.
+He waited.
+
+The cart was soon at the corner of the road. It was a very dilapidated
+vehicle, known in the country as a kibitka, just capable of holding
+three persons. Usually the kibitka is drawn by three horses, but this
+had but one, a beast with long hair and a very long tail. It was of the
+Mongol breed, known for strength and courage.
+
+A young man was leading it, with a dog beside him. Nadia saw at once
+that the young man was Russian; his face was phlegmatic, but pleasant,
+and at once inspired confidence. He did not appear to be in the
+slightest hurry; he was not walking fast that he might spare his
+horse, and, to look at him, it would not have been believed that he was
+following a road which might at any instant be swarming with Tartars.
+
+Nadia, holding Michael by the hand, made way for the vehicle. The
+kibitka stopped, and the driver smilingly looked at the young girl.
+
+"And where are you going to in this fashion?" he asked, opening wide his
+great honest eyes.
+
+At the sound of his voice, Michael said to himself that he had heard it
+before. And it was satisfactory to him to recognize the man for his brow
+at once cleared.
+
+"Well, where are you going?" repeated the young man, addressing himself
+more directly to Michael.
+
+"We are going to Irkutsk," he replied.
+
+"Oh! little father, you do not know that there are still versts and
+versts between you and Irkutsk?"
+
+"I know it."
+
+"And you are going on foot?"
+
+"On foot."
+
+"You, well! but the young lady?"
+
+"She is my sister," said Michael, who judged it prudent to give again
+this name to Nadia.
+
+"Yes, your sister, little father! But, believe me, she will never be
+able to get to Irkutsk!"
+
+"Friend," returned Michael, approaching him, "the Tartars have robbed
+us of everything, and I have not a copeck to offer you; but if you will
+take my sister with you, I will follow your cart on foot; I will run
+when necessary, I will not delay you an hour!"
+
+"Brother," exclaimed Nadia, "I will not! I will not! Sir, my brother is
+blind!"
+
+"Blind!" repeated the young man, much moved.
+
+"The Tartars have burnt out his eyes!" replied Nadia, extending her
+hands, as if imploring pity.
+
+"Burnt out his eyes! Oh! poor little father! I am going to Krasnoiarsk.
+Well, why should not you and your sister mount in the kibitka? By
+sitting a little close, it will hold us all three. Besides, my dog will
+not refuse to go on foot; only I don't go fast, I spare my horse."
+
+"Friend, what is your name?" asked Michael.
+
+"My name is Nicholas Pigassof."
+
+"It is a name that I will never forget," said Michael.
+
+"Well, jump up, little blind father. Your sister will be beside you, in
+the bottom of the cart; I sit in front to drive. There is plenty of good
+birch bark and straw in the bottom; it's like a nest. Serko, make room!"
+
+The dog jumped down without more telling. He was an animal of the
+Siberian race, gray hair, of medium size, with an honest big head,
+just made to pat, and he, moreover, appeared to be much attached to his
+master.
+
+In a moment more, Michael and Nadia were seated in the kibitka. Michael
+held out his hands as if to feel for those of Pigassof. "You wish to
+shake my hands!" said Nicholas. "There they are, little father! shake
+them as long as it will give you any pleasure."
+
+The kibitka moved on; the horse, which Nicholas never touched with the
+whip, ambled along. Though Michael did not gain any in speed, at least
+some fatigue was spared to Nadia.
+
+Such was the exhaustion of the young girl, that, rocked by the
+monotonous movement of the kibitka, she soon fell into a sleep, its
+soundness proving her complete prostration. Michael and Nicholas laid
+her on the straw as comfortably as possible. The compassionate young man
+was greatly moved, and if a tear did not escape from Michael's eyes, it
+was because the red-hot iron had dried up the last!
+
+"She is very pretty," said Nicholas.
+
+"Yes," replied Michael.
+
+"They try to be strong, little father, they are brave, but they are weak
+after all, these dear little things! Have you come from far."
+
+"Very far."
+
+"Poor young people! It must have hurt you very much when they burnt your
+eyes!"
+
+"Very much," answered Michael, turning towards Nicholas as if he could
+see him.
+
+"Did you not weep?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I should have wept too. To think that one could never again see
+those one loves. But they can see you, however; that's perhaps some
+consolation!"
+
+"Yes, perhaps. Tell me, my friend," continued Michael, "have you never
+seen me anywhere before?"
+
+"You, little father? No, never."
+
+"The sound of your voice is not unknown to me."
+
+"Why!" returned Nicholas, smiling, "he knows the sound of my voice!
+Perhaps you ask me that to find out where I come from. I come from
+Kolyvan."
+
+"From Kolyvan?" repeated Michael. "Then it was there I met you; you were
+in the telegraph office?"
+
+"That may be," replied Nicholas. "I was stationed there. I was the clerk
+in charge of the messages."
+
+"And you stayed at your post up to the last moment?"
+
+"Why, it's at that moment one ought to be there!"
+
+"It was the day when an Englishman and a Frenchman were disputing,
+roubles in hand, for the place at your wicket, and the Englishman
+telegraphed some poetry."
+
+"That is possible, but I do not remember it."
+
+"What! you do not remember it?"
+
+"I never read the dispatches I send. My duty being to forget them, the
+shortest way is not to know them."
+
+This reply showed Nicholas Pigassof's character. In the meanwhile the
+kibitka pursued its way, at a pace which Michael longed to render
+more rapid. But Nicholas and his horse were accustomed to a pace which
+neither of them would like to alter. The horse went for two hours and
+rested one--so on, day and night. During the halts the horse grazed,
+the travelers ate in company with the faithful Serko. The kibitka was
+provisioned for at least twenty persons, and Nicholas generously placed
+his supplies at the disposal of his two guests, whom he believed to be
+brother and sister.
+
+After a day's rest, Nadia recovered some strength. Nicholas took the
+best possible care of her. The journey was being made under tolerable
+circumstances, slowly certainly, but surely. It sometimes happened that
+during the night, Nicholas, although driving, fell asleep, and snored
+with a clearness which showed the calmness of his conscience. Perhaps
+then, by looking close, Michael's hand might have been seen feeling
+for the reins, and giving the horse a more rapid pace, to the great
+astonishment of Serko, who, however, said nothing. The trot was
+exchanged for the amble as soon as Nicholas awoke, but the kibitka had
+not the less gained some versts.
+
+Thus they passed the river Ichirnsk, the villages of Ichisnokoe,
+Berikylokoe, Kuskoe, the river Marunsk, the village of the same name,
+Bogostowskoe, and, lastly, the Ichoula, a little stream which divides
+Western from Eastern Siberia. The road now lay sometimes across wide
+moors, which extended as far as the eye could reach, sometimes through
+thick forests of firs, of which they thought they should never get to
+the end. Everywhere was a desert; the villages were almost entirely
+abandoned. The peasants had fled beyond the Yenisei, hoping that this
+wide river would perhaps stop the Tartars.
+
+On the 22d of August, the kibitka entered the town of Atchinsk, two
+hundred and fifty miles from Tomsk. Eighty miles still lay between them
+and Krasnoiarsk.
+
+No incident had marked the journey. For the six days during which they
+had been together, Nicholas, Michael, and Nadia had remained the same,
+the one in his unchange-able calm, the other two, uneasy, and thinking
+of the time when their companion would leave them.
+
+Michael saw the country through which they traveled with the eyes of
+Nicholas and the young girl. In turns, they each described to him the
+scenes they passed. He knew whether he was in a forest or on a plain,
+whether a hut was on the steppe, or whether any Siberian was in sight.
+Nicholas was never silent, he loved to talk, and, from his peculiar way
+of viewing things, his friends were amused by his conversation. One day,
+Michael asked him what sort of weather it was.
+
+"Fine enough, little father," he answered, "but soon we shall feel the
+first winter frosts. Perhaps the Tartars will go into winter quarters
+during the bad season."
+
+Michael Strogoff shook his head with a doubtful air.
+
+"You do not think so, little father?" resumed Nicholas. "You think that
+they will march on to Irkutsk?"
+
+"I fear so," replied Michael.
+
+"Yes... you are right; they have with them a bad man, who will not let
+them loiter on the way. You have heard speak of Ivan Ogareff?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You know that it is not right to betray one's country!"
+
+"No... it is not right..." answered Michael, who wished to remain
+unmoved.
+
+"Little father," continued Nicholas, "it seems to me that you are not
+half indignant enough when Ivan Ogareff is spoken of. Your Russian heart
+ought to leap when his name is uttered."
+
+"Believe me, my friend, I hate him more than you can ever hate him,"
+said Michael.
+
+"It is not possible," replied Nicholas; "no, it is not possible! When
+I think of Ivan Ogareff, of the harm which he is doing to our sacred
+Russia, I get into such a rage that if I could get hold of him--"
+
+"If you could get hold of him, friend?"
+
+"I think I should kill him."
+
+"And I, I am sure of it," returned Michael quietly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII THE PASSAGE OF THE YENISEI
+
+AT nightfall, on the 25th of August, the kibitka came in sight of
+Krasnoiarsk. The journey from Tomsk had taken eight days. If it had not
+been accomplished as rapidly as it might, it was because Nicholas had
+slept little. Consequently, it was impossible to increase his horse's
+pace, though in other hands, the journey would not have taken sixty
+hours.
+
+Happily, there was no longer any fear of Tartars. Not a scout had
+appeared on the road over which the kibitka had just traveled. This
+was strange enough, and evidently some serious cause had prevented the
+Emir's troops from marching without delay upon Irkutsk. Something had
+occurred. A new Russian corps, hastily raised in the government of
+Yeniseisk, had marched to Tomsk to endeavor to retake the town. But,
+being too weak to withstand the Emir's troops, now concentrated there,
+they had been forced to effect a retreat. Feofar-Khan, including his own
+soldiers, and those of the Khanats of Khokhand and Koun-douze, had
+now under his command two hundred and fifty thousand men, to which
+the Russian government could not as yet oppose a sufficient force. The
+invasion could not, therefore, be immediately stopped, and the whole
+Tartar army might at once march upon Irkutsk. The battle of Tomsk was on
+the 22nd of August, though this Michael did not know, but it explained
+why the vanguard of the Emir's army had not appeared at Krasnoiarsk by
+the 25th.
+
+However, though Michael Strogoff could not know the events which had
+occurred since his departure, he at least knew that he was several days
+in advance of the Tartars, and that he need not despair of reaching
+before them the town of Irkutsk, still six hundred miles distant.
+
+Besides, at Krasnoiarsk, of which the population is about twelve
+thousand souls, he depended upon obtaining some means of transport.
+Since Nicholas Pigassof was to stop in that town, it would be necessary
+to replace him by a guide, and to change the kibitka for another more
+rapid vehicle. Michael, after having addressed himself to the governor
+of the town, and established his identity and quality as Courier of the
+Czar--which would be easy--doubted not that he would be enabled to
+get to Irkutsk in the shortest possible time. He would thank the good
+Nicholas Pigassof, and set out immediately with Nadia, for he did not
+wish to leave her until he had placed her in her father's arms. Though
+Nicholas had resolved to stop at Krasnoiarsk, it was only as he said,
+"on condition of finding employment there." In fact, this model clerk,
+after having stayed to the last minute at his post in Kolyvan, was
+endeavoring to place himself again at the disposal of the government.
+"Why should I receive a salary which I have not earned?" he would say.
+
+In the event of his services not being required at Krasnoiarsk, which it
+was expected would be still in telegraphic communication with Irkutsk,
+he proposed to go to Oudinsk, or even to the capital of Siberia itself.
+In the latter case, he would continue to travel with the brother and
+sister; and where would they find a surer guide, or a more devoted
+friend?
+
+The kibitka was now only half a verst from Krasnoiarsk. The numerous
+wooden crosses which are erected at the approaches to the town, could be
+seen to the right and left of the road. It was seven in the evening; the
+outline of the churches and of the houses built on the high bank of the
+Yenisei were clearly defined against the evening sky, and the waters of
+the river reflected them in the twilight.
+
+"Where are we, sister?" asked Michael.
+
+"Half a verst from the first houses," replied Nadia.
+
+"Can the town be asleep?" observed Michael. "Not a sound strikes my
+ear."
+
+"And I cannot see the slightest light, nor even smoke mounting into the
+air," added Nadia.
+
+"What a queer town!" said Nicholas. "They make no noise in it, and go to
+bed uncommonly early!"
+
+A presentiment of impending misfortune passed across Michael's heart. He
+had not said to Nadia that he had placed all his hopes on Krasnoiarsk,
+where he expected to find the means of safely finishing his journey. He
+much feared that his anticipations would again be disappointed.
+
+But Nadia had guessed his thoughts, although she could not understand
+why her companion should be so anxious to reach Irkutsk, now that the
+Imperial letter was gone. She one day said something of the sort to him.
+"I have sworn to go to Irkutsk," he replied.
+
+But to accomplish his mission, it was necessary that at Krasnoiarsk he
+should find some more rapid mode of locomotion. "Well, friend," said he
+to Nicholas, "why are we not going on?"
+
+"Because I am afraid of waking up the inhabitants of the town with the
+noise of my carriage!" And with a light fleck of the whip, Nicholas put
+his horse in motion.
+
+Ten minutes after they entered the High Street. Krasnoiarsk was
+deserted; there was no longer an Athenian in this "Northern Athens," as
+Madame de Bourboulon has called it. Not one of their dashing equipages
+swept through the wide, clean streets. Not a pedestrian enlivened the
+footpaths raised at the bases of the magnificent wooden houses, of
+monumental aspect! Not a Siberian belle, dressed in the last French
+fashion, promenaded the beautiful park, cleared in a forest of birch
+trees, which stretches away to the banks of the Yenisei! The great bell
+of the cathedral was dumb; the chimes of the churches were silent. Here
+was complete desolation. There was no longer a living being in this
+town, lately so lively!
+
+The last telegram sent from the Czar's cabinet, before the rupture
+of the wire, had ordered the governor, the garrison, the inhabitants,
+whoever they might be, to leave Krasnoiarsk, to carry with them any
+articles of value, or which might be of use to the Tartars, and to take
+refuge at Irkutsk. The same injunction was given to all the villages of
+the province. It was the intention of the Muscovite government to lay
+the country desert before the invaders. No one thought for an instant of
+disputing these orders. They were executed, and this was the reason why
+not a single human being remained in Krasnoiarsk.
+
+Michael Strogoff, Nadia, and Nicholas passed silently through the
+streets of the town. They felt half-stupefied. They themselves made the
+only sound to be heard in this dead city. Michael allowed nothing of
+what he felt to appear, but he inwardly raged against the bad luck which
+pursued him, his hopes being again disappointed.
+
+"Alack, alack!" cried Nicholas, "I shall never get any employment in
+this desert!"
+
+"Friend," said Nadia, "you must go on with us."
+
+"I must indeed!" replied Nicholas. "The wire is no doubt still working
+between Oudinsk and Irkutsk, and there--Shall we start, little father?"
+
+"Let us wait till to-morrow," answered Michael.
+
+"You are right," said Nicholas. "We have the Yenisei to cross, and need
+light to see our way there!"
+
+"To see!" murmured Nadia, thinking of her blind companion.
+
+Nicholas heard her, and turning to Michael, "Forgive me, little father,"
+said he. "Alas! night and day, it is true, are all the same to you!"
+
+"Do not reproach yourself, friend," replied Michael, pressing his hand
+over his eyes. "With you for a guide I can still act. Take a few hours'
+repose. Nadia must rest too. To-morrow we will recommence our journey!"
+
+Michael and his friends had not to search long for a place of rest. The
+first house, the door of which they pushed open, was empty, as well as
+all the others. Nothing could be found within but a few heaps of leaves.
+For want of better fodder the horse had to content himself with
+this scanty nourishment. The provisions of the kibitka were not yet
+exhausted, so each had a share. Then, after having knelt before a small
+picture of the Panaghia, hung on the wall, and still lighted up by a
+flickering lamp, Nicholas and the young girl slept, whilst Michael, over
+whom sleep had no influence, watched.
+
+Before daybreak the next morning, the 26th of August, the horse was
+drawing the kibitka through the forests of birch trees towards the banks
+of the Yenisei. Michael was in much anxiety. How was he to cross the
+river, if, as was probable, all boats had been destroyed to retard the
+Tartars' march? He knew the Yenisei, its width was considerable, its
+currents strong. Ordinarily by means of boats specially built for the
+conveyance of travelers, carriages, and horses, the passage of the
+Yenisei takes about three hours, and then it is with extreme difficulty
+that the boats reach the opposite bank. Now, in the absence of any
+ferry, how was the kibitka to get from one bank to the other?
+
+Day was breaking when the kibitka reached the left bank, where one of
+the wide alleys of the park ended. They were about a hundred feet above
+the Yenisei, and could therefore survey the whole of its wide course.
+
+"Do you see a boat?" asked Michael, casting his eyes eagerly about from
+one side to the other, mechanically, no doubt, as if he could really
+see.
+
+"It is scarcely light yet, brother," replied Nadia. "The fog is still
+thick, and we cannot see the water."
+
+"But I hear it roaring," said Michael.
+
+Indeed, from the fog issued a dull roaring sound. The waters being high
+rushed down with tumultuous violence. All three waited until the misty
+curtain should rise. The sun would not be long in dispersing the vapors.
+
+"Well?" asked Michael.
+
+"The fog is beginning to roll away, brother," replied Nadia, "and it
+will soon be clear."
+
+"Then you do not see the surface of the water yet?"
+
+"Not yet."
+
+"Have patience, little father," said Nicholas. "All this will soon
+disappear. Look! here comes the breeze! It is driving away the fog.
+The trees on the opposite hills are already appearing. It is sweeping,
+flying away. The kindly rays of the sun have condensed all that mass of
+mist. Ah! how beautiful it is, my poor fellow, and how unfortunate that
+you cannot see such a lovely sight!"
+
+"Do you see a boat?" asked Michael.
+
+"I see nothing of the sort," answered Nicholas.
+
+"Look well, friend, on this and the opposite bank, as far as your eye
+can reach. A raft, even a canoe?"
+
+Nicholas and Nadia, grasping the bushes on the edge of the cliff, bent
+over the water. The view they thus obtained was extensive. At this place
+the Yenisei is not less than a mile in width, and forms two arms, of
+unequal size, through which the waters flow swiftly. Between these arms
+lie several islands, covered with alders, willows, and poplars, looking
+like verdant ships, anchored in the river. Beyond rise the high hills of
+the Eastern shore, crowned with forests, whose tops were then empurpled
+with light. The Yenisei stretched on either side as far as the eye could
+reach. The beautiful panorama lay before them for a distance of fifty
+versts.
+
+But not a boat was to be seen. All had been taken away or destroyed,
+according to order. Unless the Tartars should bring with them materials
+for building a bridge of boats, their march towards Irkutsk would
+certainly be stopped for some time by this barrier, the Yenisei.
+
+"I remember," said Michael, "that higher up, on the outskirts of
+Krasnoiarsk, there is a little quay. There the boats touch. Friend, let
+us go up the river, and see if some boat has not been forgotten on the
+bank."
+
+Nadia seized Michael's hand and started off at a rapid pace in the
+direction indicated. If only a boat or a barge large enough to hold the
+kibitka could be found, or even one that would carry just themselves,
+Michael would not hesitate to attempt the passage! Twenty minutes after,
+all three had reached the little quay, with houses on each side quite
+down to the water's edge. It was like a village standing beyond the town
+of Krasnoiarsk.
+
+But not a boat was on the shore, not a barge at the little wharf,
+nothing even of which a raft could be made large enough to carry three
+people. Michael questioned Nicholas, who made the discouraging reply
+that the crossing appeared to him absolutely impracticable.
+
+"We shall cross!" answered Michael.
+
+The search was continued. They examined the houses on the shore,
+abandoned like all the rest of Krasnoiarsk. They had merely to push open
+the doors and enter. The cottages were evidently those of poor people,
+and quite empty. Nicholas visited one, Nadia entered another, and even
+Michael went here and there and felt about, hoping to light upon some
+article that might be useful.
+
+Nicholas and the girl had each fruitlessly rummaged these cottages and
+were about to give up the search, when they heard themselves called.
+Both ran to the bank and saw Michael standing on the threshold of a
+door.
+
+"Come!" he exclaimed. Nicholas and Nadia went towards him and followed
+him into the cottage.
+
+"What are these?" asked Michael, touching several objects piled up in a
+corner.
+
+"They are leathern bottles," answered Nicholas.
+
+"Are they full?"
+
+"Yes, full of koumyss. We have found them very opportunely to renew our
+provisions!"
+
+"Koumyss" is a drink made of mare's or camel's milk, and is very
+sustaining, and even intoxicating; so that Nicholas and his companions
+could not but congratulate themselves on the discovery.
+
+"Save one," said Michael, "but empty the others."
+
+"Directly, little father."
+
+"These will help us to cross the Yenisei."
+
+"And the raft?"
+
+"Will be the kibitka itself, which is light enough to float. Besides, we
+will sustain it, as well as the horse, with these bottles."
+
+"Well thought of, little father," exclaimed Nicholas, "and by God's help
+we will get safely over... though perhaps not in a straight line, for
+the current is very rapid!"
+
+"What does that matter?" replied Michael. "Let us get across first,
+and we shall soon find out the road to Irkutsk on the other side of the
+river."
+
+"To work, then," said Nicholas, beginning to empty the bottles.
+
+One full of koumyss was reserved, and the rest, with the air carefully
+fastened in, were used to form a floating apparatus. Two bottles were
+fastened to the horse's sides to support it in the water. Two others
+were attached to the shafts to keep them on a level with the body of the
+machine, thus transformed into a raft. This work was soon finished.
+
+"You will not be afraid, Nadia?" asked Michael.
+
+"No, brother," answered the girl.
+
+"And you, friend?"
+
+"I?" cried Nicholas. "I am now going to have one of my dreams
+realized--that of sailing in a cart."
+
+At the spot where they were now standing, the bank sloped, and was
+suitable for the launching of the kibitka. The horse drew it into the
+water, and they were soon both floating. As to Serko, he was swimming
+bravely.
+
+The three passengers, seated in the vehicle, had with due precaution
+taken off their shoes and stockings; but, thanks to the bottles, the
+water did not even come over their ankles. Michael held the reins, and,
+according to Nicholas's directions, guided the animal obliquely, but
+cautiously, so as not to exhaust him by struggling against the current.
+So long as the kibitka went with the current all was easy, and in a few
+minutes it had passed the quays of Krasnoiarsk. It drifted northwards,
+and it was soon evident that it would only reach the opposite bank far
+below the town. But that mattered little. The crossing would have been
+made without great difficulty, even on this imperfect apparatus, had
+the current been regular; but, unfortunately, there were whirlpools in
+numbers, and soon the kibitka, notwithstanding all Michael's efforts,
+was irresistibly drawn into one of these.
+
+There the danger was great. The kibitka no longer drifted, but spun
+rapidly round, inclining towards the center of the eddy, like a rider in
+a circus. The horse could scarcely keep his head above water, and ran a
+great risk of being suffocated. Serko had been obliged to take refuge in
+the carriage.
+
+Michael knew what was happening. He felt himself drawn round in a
+gradually narrowing line, from which they could not get free. How he
+longed to see, to be better able to avoid this peril, but that was no
+longer possible. Nadia was silent, her hands clinging to the sides
+of the cart, which was inclining more and more towards the center of
+depression.
+
+And Nicholas, did he not understand the gravity of the situation? Was it
+with him phlegm or contempt of danger, courage or indifference? Was his
+life valueless in his eyes, and, according to the Eastern expression,
+"an hotel for five days," which, whether one is willing or not, must be
+left the sixth? At any rate, the smile on his rosy face never faded for
+an instant.
+
+The kibitka was thus in the whirlpool, and the horse was nearly
+exhausted, when, all at once, Michael, throwing off such of his garments
+as might impede him, jumped into the water; then, seizing with a strong
+hand the bridle of the terrified horse, he gave him such an impulse that
+he managed to struggle out of the circle, and getting again into the
+current, the kibitka drifted along anew.
+
+"Hurrah!" exclaimed Nicholas.
+
+Two hours after leaving the wharf, the kibitka had crossed the widest
+arm of the river, and had landed on an island more than six versts below
+the starting point.
+
+There the horse drew the cart onto the bank, and an hour's rest was
+given to the courageous animal; then the island having been crossed
+under the shade of its magnificent birches, the kibitka found itself on
+the shore of the smaller arm of the Yenisei.
+
+This passage was much easier; no whirlpools broke the course of the
+river in this second bed; but the current was so rapid that the kibitka
+only reached the opposite side five versts below. They had drifted
+eleven versts in all.
+
+These great Siberian rivers across which no bridges have as yet been
+thrown, are serious obstacles to the facility of communication. All had
+been more or less unfortunate to Michael Strogoff. On the Irtych, the
+boat which carried him and Nadia had been attacked by Tartars. On the
+Obi, after his horse had been struck by a bullet, he had only by a
+miracle escaped from the horsemen who were pursuing him. In fact, this
+passage of the Yenisei had been performed the least disastrously.
+
+"That would not have been so amusing," exclaimed Nicholas, rubbing his
+hands, as they disembarked on the right bank of the river, "if it had
+not been so difficult."
+
+"That which has only been difficult to us, friend," answered Michael
+Strogoff, "will, perhaps, be impossible to the Tartars."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII A HARE CROSSES THE ROAD
+
+MICHAEL STROGOFF might at last hope that the road to Irkutsk was clear.
+He had distanced the Tartars, now detained at Tomsk, and when the Emir's
+soldiers should arrive at Krasnoiarsk they would find only a deserted
+town. There being no communication between the two banks of the Yenisei,
+a delay of some days would be caused until a bridge of boats could be
+established, and to accomplish this would be a difficult undertaking.
+For the first time since the encounter with Ivan Ogareff at Omsk, the
+courier of the Czar felt less uneasy, and began to hope that no fresh
+obstacle would delay his progress.
+
+The road was good, for that part of it which extends between Krasnoiarsk
+and Irkutsk is considered the best in the whole journey; fewer jolts for
+travelers, large trees to shade them from the heat of the sun, sometimes
+forests of pines or cedars covering an extent of a hundred versts.
+It was no longer the wide steppe with limitless horizon; but the rich
+country was empty. Everywhere they came upon deserted villages. The
+Siberian peasantry had vanished. It was a desert, but a desert by order
+of the Czar.
+
+The weather was fine, but the air, which cooled during the night, took
+some time to get warm again. Indeed it was now near September, and in
+this high region the days were sensibly shortening. Autumn here lasts
+but a very little while, although this part of Siberian territory is
+not situated above the fifty-fifth parallel, that of Edinburgh and
+Copenhagen. However, winter succeeds summer almost unexpectedly. These
+winters of Asiatic Russia may be said to be precocious, considering that
+during them the thermometer falls until the mercury is frozen nearly
+42 degrees below zero, and that 20 degrees below zero is considered an
+unsupportable temperature.
+
+The weather favored our travelers. It was neither stormy nor rainy. The
+health of Nadia and Michael was good, and since leaving Tomsk they had
+gradually recovered from their past fatigues.
+
+As to Nicholas Pigassof, he had never been better in his life. To him
+this journey was a trip, an agreeable excursion in which he employed his
+enforced holiday.
+
+"Decidedly," said he, "this is pleasanter than sitting twelve hours a
+day, perched on a stool, working the manip-ulator!"
+
+
+Michael had managed to get Nicholas to make his horse quicken his pace.
+To obtain this result, he had confided to Nicholas that Nadia and he
+were on their way to join their father, exiled at Irkutsk, and that they
+were very anxious to get there. Certainly, it would not do to overwork
+the horse, for very probably they would not be able to exchange him
+for another; but by giving him frequent rests--every ten miles, for
+instance--forty miles in twenty-four hours could easily be accomplished.
+Besides, the animal was strong, and of a race calculated to endure great
+fatigue. He was in no want of rich pasturage along the road, the grass
+being thick and abundant. Therefore, it was possible to demand an
+increase of work from him.
+
+Nicholas gave in to all these reasons. He was much moved at the
+situation of these two young people, going to share their father's
+exile. Nothing had ever appeared so touching to him. With what a smile
+he said to Nadia: "Divine goodness! what joy will Mr. Korpanoff feel,
+when his eyes behold you, when his arms open to receive you! If I go to
+Irkutsk--and that appears very probable now--will you permit me to be
+present at that interview! You will, will you not?" Then, striking his
+forehead: "But, I forgot, what grief too when he sees that his poor son
+is blind! Ah! everything is mingled in this world!"
+
+However, the result of all this was the kibitka went faster, and,
+according to Michael's calculations, now made almost eight miles an
+hour.
+
+After crossing the little river Biriousa, the kibitka reached
+Biriousensk on the morning of the 4th of September. There, very
+fortunately, for Nicholas saw that his provisions were becoming
+exhausted, he found in an oven a dozen "pogatchas," a kind of cake
+prepared with sheep's fat and a large supply of plain boiled rice. This
+increase was very opportune, for something would soon have been needed
+to replace the koumyss with which the kibitka had been stored at
+Krasnoiarsk.
+
+After a halt, the journey was continued in the afternoon. The distance
+to Irkutsk was not now much over three hundred miles. There was not
+a sign of the Tartar vanguard. Michael Strogoff had some grounds for
+hoping that his journey would not be again delayed, and that in eight
+days, or at most ten, he would be in the presence of the Grand Duke.
+
+On leaving Biriousinsk, a hare ran across the road, in front of the
+kibitka. "Ah!" exclaimed Nicholas.
+
+"What is the matter, friend?" asked Michael quickly, like a blind man
+whom the least sound arouses.
+
+"Did you not see?" said Nicholas, whose bright face had become suddenly
+clouded. Then he added, "Ah! no! you could not see, and it's lucky for
+you, little father!"
+
+"But I saw nothing," said Nadia.
+
+"So much the better! So much the better! But I--I saw!"
+
+"What was it then?" asked Michael.
+
+"A hare crossing our road!" answered Nicholas.
+
+In Russia, when a hare crosses the path, the popular belief is that
+it is the sign of approaching evil. Nicholas, superstitious like the
+greater number of Russians, stopped the kibitka.
+
+Michael understood his companion's hesitation, without sharing his
+credulity, and endeavored to reassure him, "There is nothing to fear,
+friend," said he.
+
+"Nothing for you, nor for her, I know, little father," answered
+Nicholas, "but for me!"
+
+"It is my fate," he continued. And he put his horse in motion again.
+However, in spite of these forebodings the day passed without any
+accident.
+
+At twelve o'clock the next day, the 6th of September, the kibitka halted
+in the village of Alsalevok, which was as deserted as the surrounding
+country. There, on a doorstep, Nadia found two of those strong-bladed
+knives used by Siberian hunters. She gave one to Michael, who concealed
+it among his clothes, and kept the other herself.
+
+Nicholas had not recovered his usual spirits. The ill-omen had affected
+him more than could have been believed, and he who formerly was never
+half an hour without speaking, now fell into long reveries from which
+Nadia found it difficult to arouse him. The kibitka rolled swiftly along
+the road. Yes, swiftly! Nicholas no longer thought of being so careful
+of his horse, and was as anxious to arrive at his journey's end as
+Michael himself. Notwithstanding his fatalism, and though resigned, he
+would not believe himself in safety until within the walls of Irkutsk.
+Many Russians would have thought as he did, and more than one would have
+turned his horse and gone back again, after a hare had crossed his path.
+
+Some observations made by him, the justice of which was proved by Nadia
+transmitting them to Michael, made them fear that their trials were not
+yet over. Though the land from Krasnoiarsk had been respected in its
+natural productions, its forests now bore trace of fire and steel; and
+it was evident that some large body of men had passed that way.
+
+Twenty miles before Nijni-Oudinsk, the indications of recent devastation
+could not be mistaken, and it was impossible to attribute them to others
+than the Tartars. It was not only that the fields were trampled by
+horse's feet, and that trees were cut down. The few houses scattered
+along the road were not only empty, some had been partly demolished,
+others half burnt down. The marks of bullets could be seen on their
+walls.
+
+Michael's anxiety may be imagined. He could no longer doubt that a party
+of Tartars had recently passed that way, and yet it was impossible
+that they could be the Emir's soldiers, for they could not have passed
+without being seen. But then, who were these new invaders, and by what
+out-of-the-way path across the steppe had they been able to join the
+highroad to Irkutsk? With what new enemies was the Czar's courier now to
+meet?
+
+He did not communicate his apprehensions either to Nicholas or Nadia,
+not wishing to make them uneasy. Besides, he had resolved to continue
+his way, as long as no insurmountable obstacle stopped him. Later, he
+would see what it was best to do. During the ensuing day, the recent
+passage of a large body of foot and horse became more and more apparent.
+Smoke was seen above the horizon. The kibitka advanced cautiously.
+Several houses in deserted villages still burned, and could not have
+been set on fire more than four and twenty hours before.
+
+At last, during the day, on the 8th of September, the kibitka stopped
+suddenly. The horse refused to advance. Serko barked furiously.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Michael.
+
+"A corpse!" replied Nicholas, who had leapt out of the kibitka. The body
+was that of a moujik, horribly mutilated, and already cold. Nicholas
+crossed himself. Then, aided by Michael, he carried the body to the side
+of the road. He would have liked to give it decent burial, that the
+wild beasts of the steppe might not feast on the miserable remains, but
+Michael could not allow him the time.
+
+"Come, friend, come!" he exclaimed, "we must not delay, even for an
+hour!" And the kibitka was driven on.
+
+Besides, if Nicholas had wished to render the last duties to all the
+dead bodies they were now to meet with on the Siberian highroad, he
+would have had enough to do! As they approached Nijni-Oudinsk, they were
+found by twenties, stretched on the ground.
+
+It was, however, necessary to follow this road until it was manifestly
+impossible to do so longer without falling into the hands of the
+invaders. The road they were following could not be abandoned, and yet
+the signs of devastation and ruin increased at every village they
+passed through. The blood of the victims was not yet dry. As to gaining
+information about what had occurred, that was impossible. There was not
+a living being left to tell the tale.
+
+About four o'clock in the afternoon of this day, Nicholas caught sight
+of the tall steeples of the churches of Nijni-Oudinsk. Thick vapors,
+which could not have been clouds, were floating around them.
+
+Nicholas and Nadia looked, and communicated the result of their
+observations to Michael. They must make up their minds what to do. If
+the town was abandoned, they could pass through without risk, but if, by
+some inexplicable maneuver, the Tartars occupied it, they must at every
+cost avoid the place.
+
+"Advance cautiously," said Michael Strogoff, "but advance!"
+
+A verst was soon traversed.
+
+"Those are not clouds, that is smoke!" exclaimed Nadia. "Brother, they
+are burning the town!"
+
+It was, indeed, only too plain. Flashes of light appeared in the midst
+of the vapor. It became thicker and thicker as it mounted upwards. But
+were they Tartars who had done this? They might be Russians, obeying the
+orders of the Grand Duke. Had the government of the Czar determined that
+from Krasnoiarsk, from the Yenisei, not a town, not a village should
+offer a refuge to the Emir's soldiers? What was Michael to do?
+
+He was undecided. However, having weighed the pros and cons, he thought
+that whatever might be the difficulties of a journey across the steppe
+without a beaten path, he ought not to risk capture a second time by
+the Tartars. He was just proposing to Nicholas to leave the road, when
+a shot was heard on their right. A ball whistled, and the horse of the
+kibitka fell dead, shot through the head.
+
+A dozen horsemen dashed forward, and the kibitka was surrounded. Before
+they knew where they were, Michael, Nadia, and Nicholas were prisoners,
+and were being dragged rapidly towards Nijni-Oudinsk.
+
+Michael, in this second attack, had lost none of his presence of
+mind. Being unable to see his enemies, he had not thought of defending
+himself. Even had he possessed the use of his eyes, he would not have
+attempted it. The consequences would have been his death and that of his
+companions. But, though he could not see, he could listen and understand
+what was said.
+
+From their language he found that these soldiers were Tartars, and from
+their words, that they preceded the invading army.
+
+In short, what Michael learnt from the talk at the present moment, as
+well as from the scraps of conversation he overheard later, was this.
+These men were not under the direct orders of the Emir, who was now
+detained beyond the Yenisei. They made part of a third column chiefly
+composed of Tartars from the khanats of Khokland and Koondooz, with
+which Feofar's army was to affect a junction in the neighborhood of
+Irkutsk.
+
+By Ogareff's advice, in order to assure the success of the invasion in
+the Eastern provinces, this column had skirted the base of the Altai
+Mountains. Pillaging and ravaging, it had reached the upper course of
+the Yenisei. There, guessing what had been done at Krasnoiarsk by order
+of the Czar, and to facilitate the passage of the river to the Emir's
+troops, this column had launched a flotilla of boats, which would enable
+Feofar to cross and resume the road to Irkutsk. Having done this, it had
+descended the valley of the Yenisei and struck the road on a level with
+Alsalevsk. From this little town began the frightful course of ruin
+which forms the chief part of Tartar warfare. Nijni-Oudinsk had shared
+the common fate, and the Tartars, to the number of fifty thousand, had
+now quitted it to take up a position before Irkutsk. Before long, they
+would be reinforced by the Emir's troops.
+
+Such was the state of affairs at this date, most serious for this
+isolated part of Eastern Siberia, and for the comparatively few
+defenders of its capital.
+
+It can be imagined with what thoughts Michael's mind was now occupied!
+Who could have been astonished had he, in his present situation,
+lost all hope and all courage? Nothing of the sort, however; his lips
+muttered no other words than these: "I will get there!"
+
+Half an hour after the attack of the Tartar horsemen, Michael Strogoff,
+Nadia, and Nicholas entered Nijni-Oudinsk. The faithful dog followed
+them, though at a distance. They could not stay in the town, as it
+was in flames, and about to be left by the last of the marauders. The
+prisoners were therefore thrown on horses and hurried away; Nicholas
+resigned as usual, Nadia, her faith in Michael unshaken, and Michael
+himself, apparently indifferent, but ready to seize any opportunity of
+escaping.
+
+The Tartars were not long in perceiving that one of their prisoners
+was blind, and their natural barbarity led them to make game of their
+unfortunate victim. They were traveling fast. Michael's horse, having no
+one to guide him, often started aside, and so made confusion among the
+ranks. This drew on his rider such abuse and brutality as wrung Nadia's
+heart, and filled Nicholas with indignation. But what could they do?
+They could not speak the Tartar language, and their assistance was
+mercilessly refused. Soon it occurred to these men, in a refinement
+of cruelty, to exchange the horse Michael was riding for one which was
+blind. The motive of the change was explained by a remark which Michael
+overheard, "Perhaps that Russian can see, after all!"
+
+Michael was placed on this horse, and the reins ironically put into
+his hand. Then, by dint of lashing, throwing stones, and shouting,
+the animal was urged into a gallop. The horse, not being guided by his
+rider, blind as himself, sometimes ran into a tree, sometimes went quite
+off the road--in consequence, collisions and falls, which might have
+been extremely dangerous.
+
+Michael did not complain. Not a murmur escaped him. When his horse fell,
+he waited until it got up. It was, indeed, soon assisted up, and the
+cruel fun continued. At sight of this wicked treatment, Nicholas could
+not contain himself; he endeavored to go to his friend's aid. He was
+prevented, and treated brutally.
+
+This game would have been prolonged, to the Tartars' great amusement,
+had not a serious accident put an end to it. On the 10th of September
+the blind horse ran away, and made straight for a pit, some thirty or
+forty feet deep, at the side of the road.
+
+Nicholas tried to go after him. He was held back. The horse, having no
+guide, fell with his rider to the bottom. Nicholas and Nadia uttered a
+piercing cry! They believed that their unfortunate companion had been
+killed.
+
+However, when they went to his assistance, it was found that Michael,
+having been able to throw himself out of the saddle, was unhurt, but the
+miserable horse had two legs broken, and was quite useless. He was
+left there to die without being put out of his suffering, and Michael,
+fastened to a Tartar's saddle, was obliged to follow the detachment on
+foot.
+
+Even now, not a protest, not a complaint! He marched with a rapid step,
+scarcely drawn by the cord which tied him. He was still "the Man of
+Iron," of whom General Kissoff had spoken to the Czar!
+
+The next day, the 11th of September, the detachment passed through the
+village of Chibarlinskoe. Here an incident occurred which had serious
+consequences. It was nightfall. The Tartar horsemen, having halted,
+were more or less intoxicated. They were about to start. Nadia, who till
+then, by a miracle, had been respectfully treated by the soldiers, was
+insulted by one of them.
+
+Michael could not see the insult, nor the insulter, but Nicholas saw for
+him. Then, quietly, without thinking, without perhaps knowing what
+he was doing, Nicholas walked straight up to the man, and, before the
+latter could make the least movement to stop him, had seized a pistol
+from his holster and discharged it full at his breast.
+
+The officer in command of the detachment hastened up on hearing the
+report. The soldiers would have cut the unfortunate Nicholas to pieces,
+but at a sign from their officer, he was bound instead, placed across a
+horse, and the detachment galloped off.
+
+The rope which fastened Michael, gnawed through by him, broke by the
+sudden start of the horse, and the half-tipsy rider galloped on without
+perceiving that his prisoner had escaped.
+
+Michael and Nadia found themselves alone on the road.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX IN THE STEPPE
+
+MICHAEL STROGOFF and Nadia were once more as free as they had been in
+the journey from Perm to the banks of the Irtych. But how the conditions
+under which they traveled were altered! Then, a comfortable tarantass,
+fresh horses, well-kept post-horses assured the rapidity of their
+journey. Now they were on foot; it was utterly impossible to procure any
+other means of locomotion, they were without resources, not knowing how
+to obtain even food, and they had still nearly three hundred miles to
+go! Moreover, Michael could now only see with Nadia's eyes.
+
+As to the friend whom chance had given them, they had just lost him,
+and fearful might be his fate. Michael had thrown himself down under the
+brushwood at the side of the road. Nadia stood beside him, waiting for
+the word from him to continue the march.
+
+It was ten o'clock. The sun had more than three hours before disappeared
+below the horizon. There was not a house in sight. The last of the
+Tartars was lost in the distance. Michael and Nadia were quite alone.
+
+"What will they do with our friend?" exclaimed the girl. "Poor Nicholas!
+Our meeting will have been fatal to him!" Michael made no response.
+
+"Michael," continued Nadia, "do you not know that he defended you when
+you were the Tartars' sport; that he risked his life for me?"
+
+Michael was still silent. Motionless, his face buried in his hands;
+of what was he thinking? Perhaps, although he did not answer, he heard
+Nadia speak.
+
+Yes! he heard her, for when the young girl added, "Where shall I lead
+you, Michael?"
+
+"To Irkutsk!" he replied.
+
+"By the highroad?"
+
+"Yes, Nadia."
+
+Michael was still the same man who had sworn, whatever happened, to
+accomplish his object. To follow the highroad, was certainly to go the
+shortest way. If the vanguard of Feofar-Khan's troops appeared, it would
+then be time to strike across the country.
+
+Nadia took Michael's hand, and they started.
+
+The next morning, the 13th of September, twenty versts further, they
+made a short halt in the village of Joulounov-skoe. It was burnt and
+deserted. All night Nadia had tried to see if the body of Nicholas had
+not been left on the road, but it was in vain that she looked among
+the ruins, and searched among the dead. Was he reserved for some cruel
+torture at Irkutsk?
+
+Nadia, exhausted with hunger, was fortunate enough to find in one of the
+houses a quantity of dried meat and "soukharis," pieces of bread,
+which, dried by evaporation, preserve their nutritive qualities for an
+indefinite time.
+
+Michael and the girl loaded themselves with as much as they could carry.
+They had thus a supply of food for several days, and as to water, there
+would be no want of that in a district rendered fertile by the numerous
+little affluents of the Angara.
+
+They continued their journey. Michael walked with a firm step, and
+only slackened his pace for his companion's sake. Nadia, not wishing to
+retard him, obliged herself to walk. Happily, he could not see to what a
+miserable state fatigue had reduced her.
+
+However, Michael guessed it. "You are quite done up, poor child," he
+said sometimes.
+
+"No," she would reply.
+
+"When you can no longer walk, I will carry you."
+
+"Yes, Michael."
+
+During this day they came to the little river Oka, but it was fordable,
+and they had no difficulty in crossing. The sky was cloudy and the
+temperature moderate. There was some fear that the rain might come on,
+which would much have increased their misery. A few showers fell, but
+they did not last.
+
+They went on as before, hand in hand, speaking little, Nadia looking
+about on every side; twice a day they halted. Six hours of the night
+were given to sleep. In a few huts Nadia again found a little mutton;
+but, contrary to Michael's hopes, there was not a single beast of burden
+in the country; horses, camels--all had been either killed or carried
+off. They must still continue to plod on across this weary steppe on
+foot.
+
+The third Tartar column, on its way to Irkutsk, had left plain traces:
+here a dead horse, there an abandoned cart. The bodies of unfortunate
+Siberians lay along the road, principally at the entrances to villages.
+Nadia, overcoming her repugnance, looked at all these corpses!
+
+The chief danger lay, not before, but behind. The advance guard of the
+Emir's army, commanded by Ivan Ogareff, might at any moment appear.
+The boats sent down the lower Yenisei must by this time have reached
+Krasnoiarsk and been made use of. The road was therefore open to the
+invaders. No Russian force could be opposed to them between Krasnoiarsk
+and Lake Baikal, Michael therefore expected before long the appearance
+of the Tartar scouts.
+
+At each halt, Nadia climbed some hill and looked anxiously to the
+Westward, but as yet no cloud of dust had signaled the approach of a
+troop of horse.
+
+Then the march was resumed; and when Michael felt that he was dragging
+poor Nadia forward too rapidly, he went at a slower pace. They spoke
+little, and only of Nicholas. The young girl recalled all that this
+companion of a few days had done for them.
+
+In answering, Michael tried to give Nadia some hope of which he did not
+feel a spark himself, for he well knew that the unfortunate fellow would
+not escape death.
+
+One day Michael said to the girl, "You never speak to me of my mother,
+Nadia."
+
+His mother! Nadia had never wished to do so. Why renew his grief? Was
+not the old Siberian dead? Had not her son given the last kiss to her
+corpse stretched on the plain of Tomsk?
+
+"Speak to me of her, Nadia," said Michael. "Speak--you will please me."
+
+And then Nadia did what she had not done before. She told all that had
+passed between Marfa and herself since their meeting at Omsk, where they
+had seen each other for the first time. She said how an inexplicable
+instinct had led her towards the old prisoner without knowing who she
+was, and what encouragement she had received in return. At that time
+Michael Strogoff had been to her but Nicholas Korpanoff.
+
+"Whom I ought always to have been," replied Michael, his brow darkening.
+
+Then later he added, "I have broken my oath, Nadia. I had sworn not to
+see my mother!"
+
+"But you did not try to see her, Michael," replied Nadia. "Chance alone
+brought you into her presence."
+
+"I had sworn, whatever might happen, not to betray myself."
+
+"Michael, Michael! at sight of the lash raised upon Marfa, could you
+refrain? No! No oath could prevent a son from succoring his mother!"
+
+"I have broken my oath, Nadia," returned Michael. "May God and the
+Father pardon me!"
+
+"Michael," resumed the girl, "I have a question to ask you. Do not
+answer it if you think you ought not. Nothing from you would vex me!"
+
+"Speak, Nadia."
+
+"Why, now that the Czar's letter has been taken from you, are you so
+anxious to reach Irkutsk?"
+
+Michael tightly pressed his companion's hand, but he did not answer.
+
+"Did you know the contents of that letter before you left Moscow?"
+
+"No, I did not know."
+
+"Must I think, Michael, that the wish alone to place me in my father's
+hands draws you toward Irkutsk?"
+
+"No, Nadia," replied Michael, gravely. "I should deceive you if I
+allowed you to believe that it was so. I go where duty orders me to go.
+As to taking you to Irkutsk, is it not you, Nadia, who are now taking me
+there? Do I not see with your eyes; and is it not your hand that guides
+me? Have you not repaid a hundred-fold the help which I was able to give
+you at first? I do not know if fate will cease to go against us; but the
+day on which you thank me for having placed you in your father's hands,
+I in my turn will thank you for having led me to Irkutsk."
+
+"Poor Michael!" answered Nadia, with emotion. "Do not speak so. That
+does not answer me. Michael, why, now, are you in such haste to reach
+Irkutsk?"
+
+"Because I must be there before Ivan Ogareff," exclaimed Michael.
+
+"Even now?"
+
+"Even now, and I will be there, too!"
+
+In uttering these words, Michael did not speak solely through hatred to
+the traitor. Nadia understood that her companion had not told, or could
+not tell, her all.
+
+On the 15th of September, three days later, the two reached the village
+of Kouitounskoe. The young girl suffered dreadfully. Her aching feet
+could scarcely support her; but she fought, she struggled, against her
+weariness, and her only thought was this: "Since he cannot see me, I
+will go on till I drop."
+
+There were no obstacles on this part of the journey, no danger either
+since the departure of the Tartars, only much fatigue. For three days
+it continued thus. It was plain that the third invading column was
+advancing rapidly in the East; that could be seen by the ruins which
+they left after them--the cold cinders and the already decomposing
+corpses.
+
+There was nothing to be seen in the West; the Emir's advance-guard had
+not yet appeared. Michael began to consider the various reasons which
+might have caused this delay. Was a sufficient force of Russians
+directly menacing Tomsk or Krasnoiarsk? Did the third column, isolated
+from the others, run a risk of being cut off? If this was the case, it
+would be easy for the Grand Duke to defend Irkutsk, and any time gained
+against an invasion was a step towards repulsing it. Michael
+sometimes let his thoughts run on these hopes, but he soon saw their
+improbability, and felt that the preservation of the Grand Duke depended
+alone on him.
+
+Nadia dragged herself along. Whatever might be her moral energy, her
+physical strength would soon fail her. Michael knew it only too well. If
+he had not been blind, Nadia would have said to him, "Go, Michael, leave
+me in some hut! Reach Irkutsk! Accomplish your mission! See my father!
+Tell him where I am! Tell him that I wait for him, and you both will
+know where to find me! Start! I am not afraid! I will hide myself from
+the Tartars! I will take care of myself for him, for you! Go, Michael! I
+can go no farther!"
+
+Many times Nadia was obliged to stop. Michael then took her in his
+strong arms and, having no longer to think of her fatigue, walked more
+rapidly and with his indefatigable step.
+
+On the 18th of September, at ten in the evening, Kimilteiskoe was at
+last entered. From the top of a hill, Nadia saw in the horizon a
+long light line. It was the Dinka River. A few lightning flashes were
+reflected in the water; summer lightning, without thunder. Nadia led her
+companion through the ruined village. The cinders were quite cold. The
+last of the Tartars had passed through at least five or six days before.
+
+Beyond the village, Nadia sank down on a stone bench. "Shall we make a
+halt?" asked Michael.
+
+"It is night, Michael," answered Nadia. "Do you not want to rest a few
+hours?"
+
+"I would rather have crossed the Dinka," replied Michael, "I should
+like to put that between us and the Emir's advance-guard. But you can
+scarcely drag yourself along, my poor Nadia!"
+
+"Come, Michael," returned Nadia, seizing her companion's hand and
+drawing him forward.
+
+Two or three versts further the Dinka flowed across the Irkutsk
+road. The young girl wished to attempt this last effort asked by her
+companion. She found her way by the light from the flashes. They were
+then crossing a boundless desert, in the midst of which was lost the
+little river. Not a tree nor a hillock broke the flatness. Not a breath
+disturbed the atmosphere, whose calmness would allow the slightest sound
+to travel an immense distance.
+
+Suddenly, Michael and Nadia stopped, as if their feet had been fast to
+the ground. The barking of a dog came across the steppe. "Do you hear?"
+said Nadia.
+
+Then a mournful cry succeeded it--a despairing cry, like the last appeal
+of a human being about to die.
+
+"Nicholas! Nicholas!" cried the girl, with a foreboding of evil.
+Michael, who was listening, shook his head.
+
+"Come, Michael, come," said Nadia. And she who just now was dragging
+herself with difficulty along, suddenly recovered strength, under
+violent excitement.
+
+"We have left the road," said Michael, feeling that he was treading no
+longer on powdery soil but on short grass.
+
+"Yes, we must!" returned Nadia. "It was there, on the right, from which
+the cry came!"
+
+In a few minutes they were not more than half a verst from the river.
+A second bark was heard, but, although more feeble, it was certainly
+nearer. Nadia stopped.
+
+"Yes!" said Michael. "It is Serko barking!... He has followed his
+master!"
+
+"Nicholas!" called the girl. Her cry was unanswered.
+
+Michael listened. Nadia gazed over the plain illumined now and again
+with electric light, but she saw nothing. And yet a voice was again
+raised, this time murmuring in a plaintive tone, "Michael!"
+
+Then a dog, all bloody, bounded up to Nadia.
+
+It was Serko! Nicholas could not be far off! He alone could have
+murmured the name of Michael! Where was he? Nadia had no strength to
+call again. Michael, crawling on the ground, felt about with his hands.
+
+Suddenly Serko uttered a fresh bark and darted towards a gigantic bird
+which had swooped down. It was a vulture. When Serko ran towards it, it
+rose, but returning struck at the dog. The latter leapt up at it. A blow
+from the formidable beak alighted on his head, and this time Serko fell
+back lifeless on the ground.
+
+At the same moment a cry of horror escaped Nadia. "There... there!" she
+exclaimed.
+
+A head issued from the ground! She had stumbled against it in the
+darkness.
+
+Nadia fell on her knees beside it. Nicholas buried up to his neck,
+according to the atrocious Tartar custom, had been left in the steppe to
+die of thirst, and perhaps by the teeth of wolves or the beaks of birds
+of prey!
+
+Frightful torture for the victim imprisoned in the ground--the earth
+pressed down so that he cannot move, his arms bound to his body like
+those of a corpse in its coffin! The miserable wretch, living in the
+mold of clay from which he is powerless to break out, can only long for
+the death which is so slow in coming!
+
+There the Tartars had buried their prisoner three days before! For three
+days, Nicholas waited for the help which now came too late! The vultures
+had caught sight of the head on a level with the ground, and for some
+hours the dog had been defending his master against these ferocious
+birds!
+
+Michael dug at the ground with his knife to release his friend! The eyes
+of Nicholas, which till then had been closed, opened.
+
+He recognized Michael and Nadia. "Farewell, my friends!" he murmured. "I
+am glad to have seen you again! Pray for me!"
+
+Michael continued to dig, though the ground, having been tightly rammed
+down, was as hard as stone, and he managed at last to get out the body
+of the unhappy man. He listened if his heart was still beating.... It
+was still!
+
+He wished to bury him, that he might not be left exposed; and the hole
+into which Nicholas had been placed when living, was enlarged, so that
+he might be laid in it--dead! The faithful Serko was laid by his master.
+
+At that moment, a noise was heard on the road, about half a verst
+distant. Michael Strogoff listened. It was evidently a detachment of
+horse advancing towards the Dinka. "Nadia, Nadia!" he said in a low
+voice.
+
+Nadia, who was kneeling in prayer, arose. "Look, look!" said he.
+
+"The Tartars!" she whispered.
+
+It was indeed the Emir's advance-guard, passing rapidly along the road
+to Irkutsk.
+
+"They shall not prevent me from burying him!" said Michael. And he
+continued his work.
+
+Soon, the body of Nicholas, the hands crossed on the breast, was laid in
+the grave. Michael and Nadia, kneeling, prayed a last time for the poor
+fellow, inoffensive and good, who had paid for his devotion towards them
+with his life.
+
+"And now," said Michael, as he threw in the earth, "the wolves of the
+steppe will not devour him."
+
+Then he shook his fist at the troop of horsemen who were passing.
+"Forward, Nadia!" he said.
+
+Michael could not follow the road, now occupied by the Tartars. He must
+cross the steppe and turn to Irkutsk. He had not now to trouble himself
+about crossing the Dinka. Nadia could not move, but she could see for
+him. He took her in his arms and went on towards the southwest of the
+province.
+
+A hundred and forty miles still remained to be traversed. How was the
+distance to be performed? Should they not succumb to such fatigue? On
+what were they to live on the way? By what superhuman energy were they
+to pass the slopes of the Sayansk Mountains? Neither he nor Nadia could
+answer this!
+
+And yet, twelve days after, on the 2d of October, at six o'clock in the
+evening, a wide sheet of water lay at Michael Strogoff's feet. It was
+Lake Baikal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X BAIKAL AND ANGARA
+
+LAKE BAIKAL is situated seventeen hundred feet above the level of the
+sea. Its length is about six hundred miles, its breadth seventy. Its
+depth is not known. Madame de Bourboulon states that, according to the
+boatmen, it likes to be spoken of as "Madam Sea." If it is called "Sir
+Lake," it immediately lashes itself into fury. However, it is reported
+and believed by the Siberians that a Russian is never drowned in it.
+
+This immense basin of fresh water, fed by more than three hundred
+rivers, is surrounded by magnificent volcanic mountains. It has no other
+outlet than the Angara, which after passing Irkutsk throws itself into
+the Yenisei, a little above the town of Yeniseisk. As to the mountains
+which encase it, they form a branch of the Toungouzes, and are derived
+from the vast system of the Altai.
+
+In this territory, subject to peculiar climatical conditions, the
+autumn appears to be absorbed in the precocious winter. It was now the
+beginning of October. The sun set at five o'clock in the evening, and
+during the long nights the temperature fell to zero. The first snows,
+which would last till summer, already whitened the summits of the
+neighboring hills. During the Siberian winter this inland sea is frozen
+over to a thickness of several feet, and is crossed by the sleighs of
+caravans.
+
+Either because there are people who are so wanting in politeness as to
+call it "Sir Lake," or for some more meteorological reason, Lake Baikal
+is subject to violent tempests. Its waves, short like those of all
+inland seas, are much feared by the rafts, prahms, and steamboats, which
+furrow it during the summer.
+
+It was the southwest point of the lake which Michael had now reached,
+carrying Nadia, whose whole life, so to speak, was concentrated in her
+eyes. But what could these two expect, in this wild region, if it was
+not to die of exhaustion and famine? And yet, what remained of the long
+journey of four thousand miles for the Czar's courier to reach his end?
+Nothing but forty miles on the shore of the lake up to the mouth of the
+Angara, and sixty miles from the mouth of the Angara to Irkutsk; in all,
+a hundred miles, or three days' journey for a strong man, even on foot.
+
+Could Michael Strogoff still be that man?
+
+Heaven, no doubt, did not wish to put him to this trial. The fatality
+which had hitherto pursued his steps seemed for a time to spare him.
+This end of the Baikal, this part of the steppe, which he believed to be
+a desert, which it usually is, was not so now. About fifty people were
+collected at the angle formed by the end of the lake.
+
+Nadia immediately caught sight of this group, when Michael, carrying her
+in his arms, issued from the mountain pass. The girl feared for a moment
+that it was a Tartar detachment, sent to beat the shores of the Baikal,
+in which case flight would have been impossible to them both. But Nadia
+was soon reassured.
+
+"Russians!" she exclaimed. And with this last effort, her eyes closed
+and her head fell on Michael's breast.
+
+But they had been seen, and some of these Russians, running to them, led
+the blind man and the girl to a little point at which was moored a raft.
+
+The raft was just going to start. These Russians were fugitives of
+different conditions, whom the same interest had united at Lake Baikal.
+Driven back by the Tartar scouts, they hoped to obtain a refuge at
+Irkutsk, but not being able to get there by land, the invaders having
+occupied both banks of the Angara, they hoped to reach it by descending
+the river which flows through the town.
+
+Their plan made Michael's heart leap; a last chance was before him,
+but he had strength to conceal this, wishing to keep his incognito more
+strictly than ever.
+
+The fugitives' plan was very simple. A current in the lake runs along
+by the upper bank to the mouth of the Angara; this current they hoped
+to utilize, and with its assistance to reach the outlet of Lake Baikal.
+From this point to Irkutsk, the rapid waters of the river would bear
+them along at a rate of eight miles an hour. In a day and a half they
+might hope to be in sight of the town.
+
+No kind of boat was to be found; they had been obliged to make one;
+a raft, or rather a float of wood, similar to those which usually are
+drifted down Siberian rivers, was constructed. A forest of firs, growing
+on the bank, had supplied the necessary materials; the trunks, fastened
+together with osiers, made a platform on which a hundred people could
+have easily found room.
+
+On board this raft Michael and Nadia were taken. The girl had returned
+to herself; some food was given to her as well as to her companion.
+Then, lying on a bed of leaves, she soon fell into a deep sleep.
+
+To those who questioned him, Michael Strogoff said nothing of what
+had taken place at Tomsk. He gave himself out as an inhabitant of
+Krasnoiarsk, who had not been able to get to Irkutsk before the Emir's
+troops arrived on the left bank of the Dinka, and he added that, very
+probably, the bulk of the Tartar forces had taken up a position before
+the Siberian capital.
+
+There was not a moment to be lost; besides, the cold was becoming more
+and more severe. During the night the temperature fell below zero; ice
+was already forming on the surface of the Baikal. Although the raft
+managed to pass easily over the lake, it might not be so easy between
+the banks of the Angara, should pieces of ice be found to block up its
+course.
+
+At eight in the evening the moorings were cast off, and the raft drifted
+in the current along the shore. It was steered by means of long poles,
+under the management of several muscular moujiks. An old Baikal boatman
+took command of the raft. He was a man of sixty-five, browned by the
+sun, and lake breezes. A thick white beard flowed over his chest; a
+fur cap covered his head; his aspect was grave and austere. His large
+great-coat, fastened in at the waist, reached down to his heels. This
+taciturn old fellow was seated in the stern, and issued his commands by
+gestures. Besides, the chief work consisted in keeping the raft in the
+current, which ran along the shore, without drifting out into the open.
+
+It has been already said that Russians of all conditions had found a
+place on the raft. Indeed, to the poor moujiks, the women, old men, and
+children, were joined two or three pilgrims, surprised on their journey
+by the invasion; a few monks, and a priest. The pilgrims carried a
+staff, a gourd hung at the belt, and they chanted psalms in a plaintive
+voice: one came from the Ukraine, another from the Yellow sea, and
+a third from the Finland provinces. This last, who was an aged man,
+carried at his waist a little padlocked collecting-box, as if it had
+been hung at a church door. Of all that he collected during his long and
+fatiguing pilgrimage, nothing was for himself; he did not even possess
+the key of the box, which would only be opened on his return.
+
+The monks came from the North of the Empire. Three months before they
+had left the town of Archangel. They had visited the sacred islands near
+the coast of Carelia, the convent of Solovetsk, the convent of Troitsa,
+those of Saint Antony and Saint Theodosia, at Kiev, that of Kazan, as
+well as the church of the Old Believers, and they were now on their way
+to Irkutsk, wearing the robe, the cowl, and the clothes of serge.
+
+As to the papa, or priest, he was a plain village pastor, one of the six
+hundred thousand popular pastors which the Russian Empire contains. He
+was clothed as miserably as the moujiks, not being above them in social
+position; in fact, laboring like a peasant on his plot of ground;
+baptis-ing, marrying, burying. He had been able to protect his wife and
+children from the brutality of the Tartars by sending them away into the
+Northern provinces. He himself had stayed in his parish up to the last
+moment; then he was obliged to fly, and, the Irkutsk road being stopped,
+had come to Lake Baikal.
+
+These priests, grouped in the forward part of the raft, prayed at
+regular intervals, raising their voices in the silent night, and at the
+end of each sentence of their prayer, the "Slava Bogu," Glory to God!
+issued from their lips.
+
+No incident took place during the night. Nadia remained in a sort of
+stupor, and Michael watched beside her; sleep only overtook him at long
+intervals, and even then his brain did not rest. At break of day, the
+raft, delayed by a strong breeze, which counteracted the course of the
+current, was still forty versts from the mouth of the Angara. It seemed
+probable that the fugitives could not reach it before three or four
+o'clock in the evening. This did not trouble them; on the contrary, for
+they would then descend the river during the night, and the darkness
+would also favor their entrance into Irkutsk.
+
+The only anxiety exhibited at times by the old boatman was concerning
+the formation of ice on the surface of the water. The night had been
+excessively cold; pieces of ice could be seen drifting towards the West.
+Nothing was to be dreaded from these, since they could not drift into
+the Angara, having already passed the mouth; but pieces from the Eastern
+end of the lake might be drawn by the current between the banks of the
+river; this would cause difficulty, possibly delay, and perhaps even an
+insurmountable obstacle which would stop the raft.
+
+Michael therefore took immense interest in ascertaining what was the
+state of the lake, and whether any large number of ice blocks appeared.
+Nadia being now awake, he questioned her often, and she gave him an
+account of all that was going on.
+
+Whilst the blocks were thus drifting, curious phenomena were taking
+place on the surface of the Baikal. Magnificent jets, from springs of
+boiling water, shot up from some of those artesian wells which Nature
+has bored in the very bed of the lake. These jets rose to a great height
+and spread out in vapor, which was illuminated by the solar rays, and
+almost immediately condensed by the cold. This curious sight would have
+assuredly amazed a tourist traveling in peaceful times on this Siberian
+sea.
+
+At four in the evening, the mouth of the Angara was signaled by the old
+boatman, between the high granite rocks of the shore. On the right bank
+could be seen the little port of Livenitchnaia, its church, and its few
+houses built on the bank. But the serious thing was that the ice blocks
+from the East were already drifting between the banks of the Angara, and
+consequently were descending towards Irkutsk. However, their number was
+not yet great enough to obstruct the course of the raft, nor the cold
+great enough to increase their number.
+
+The raft arrived at the little port and there stopped. The old boatman
+wished to put into harbor for an hour, in order to make some repairs.
+The trunks threatened to separate, and it was important to fasten them
+more securely together to resist the rapid current of the Angara.
+
+The old boatman did not expect to receive any fresh fugitives at
+Livenitchnaia, and yet, the moment the raft touched, two passengers,
+issuing from a deserted house, ran as fast as they could towards the
+beach.
+
+Nadia seated on the raft, was abstractedly gazing at the shore. A cry
+was about to escape her. She seized Michael's hand, who at that moment
+raised his head.
+
+"What is the matter, Nadia?" he asked.
+
+"Our two traveling companions, Michael."
+
+"The Frenchman and the Englishman whom we met in the defiles of the
+Ural?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Michael started, for the strict incognito which he wished to keep ran a
+risk of being betrayed. Indeed, it was no longer as Nicholas Korpanoff
+that Jolivet and Blount would now see him, but as the true Michael
+Strogoff, Courier of the Czar. The two correspondents had already met
+him twice since their separation at the Ichim post-house--the first time
+at the Zabediero camp, when he laid open Ivan Ogareff's face with the
+knout; the second time at Tomsk, when he was condemned by the Emir. They
+therefore knew who he was and what depended on him.
+
+Michael Strogoff rapidly made up his mind. "Nadia," said he, "when they
+step on board, ask them to come to me!"
+
+It was, in fact, Blount and Jolivet, whom the course of events had
+brought to the port of Livenitchnaia, as it had brought Michael
+Strogoff. As we know, after having been present at the entry of the
+Tartars into Tomsk, they had departed before the savage execution which
+terminated the fete. They had therefore never suspected that their
+former traveling companion had not been put to death, but blinded by
+order of the Emir.
+
+Having procured horses they had left Tomsk the same evening, with
+the fixed determination of henceforward dating their letters from
+the Russian camp of Eastern Siberia. They proceeded by forced marches
+towards Irkutsk. They hoped to distance Feofar-Khan, and would certainly
+have done so, had it not been for the unexpected apparition of the third
+column, come from the South, up the valley of the Yenisei. They had been
+cut off, as had been Michael, before being able even to reach the Dinka,
+and had been obliged to go back to Lake Baikal.
+
+They had been in the place for three days in much perplexity, when
+the raft arrived. The fugitives' plan was explained to them. There was
+certainly a chance that they might be able to pass under cover of the
+night, and penetrate into Irkutsk. They resolved to make the attempt.
+
+Alcide directly communicated with the old boatman, and asked a passage
+for himself and his companion, offering to pay anything he demanded,
+whatever it might be.
+
+"No one pays here," replied the old man gravely; "every one risks his
+life, that is all!"
+
+The two correspondents came on board, and Nadia saw them take their
+places in the forepart of the raft. Harry Blount was still the reserved
+Englishman, who had scarcely addressed a word to her during the whole
+passage over the Ural Mountains. Alcide Jolivet seemed to be rather
+more grave than usual, and it may be acknowledged that his gravity was
+justified by the circumstances.
+
+Jolivet had, as has been said, taken his seat on the raft, when he felt
+a hand laid on his arm. Turning, he recognized Nadia, the sister of the
+man who was no longer Nicholas Korpanoff, but Michael Strogoff, Courier
+of the Czar. He was about to make an exclamation of surprise when he saw
+the young girl lay her finger on her lips.
+
+"Come," said Nadia. And with a careless air, Alcide rose and followed
+her, making a sign to Blount to accompany him.
+
+But if the surprise of the correspondents had been great at meeting
+Nadia on the raft it was boundless when they perceived Michael Strogoff,
+whom they had believed to be no longer living.
+
+Michael had not moved at their approach. Jolivet turned towards the
+girl. "He does not see you, gentlemen," said Nadia. "The Tartars have
+burnt out his eyes! My poor brother is blind!"
+
+A feeling of lively compassion exhibited itself on the faces of Blount
+and his companion. In a moment they were seated beside Michael, pressing
+his hand and waiting until he spoke to them.
+
+"Gentlemen," said Michael, in a low voice, "you ought not to know who
+I am, nor what I am come to do in Siberia. I ask you to keep my secret.
+Will you promise me to do so?"
+
+"On my honor," answered Jolivet.
+
+"On my word as a gentleman," added Blount.
+
+"Good, gentlemen."
+
+"Can we be of any use to you?" asked Harry Blount. "Could we not help
+you to accomplish your task?"
+
+"I prefer to act alone," replied Michael.
+
+"But those blackguards have destroyed your sight," said Alcide.
+
+"I have Nadia, and her eyes are enough for me!"
+
+In half an hour the raft left the little port of Livenitchnaia, and
+entered the river. It was five in the evening and getting dusk. The
+night promised to be dark and very cold also, for the temperature was
+already below zero.
+
+Alcide and Blount, though they had promised to keep Michael's secret,
+did not leave him. They talked in a low voice, and the blind man, adding
+what they told him to what he already knew, was able to form an exact
+idea of the state of things. It was certain that the Tartars had
+actually invested Irkutsk, and that the three columns had effected a
+junction. There was no doubt that the Emir and Ivan Ogareff were before
+the capital.
+
+But why did the Czar's courier exhibit such haste to get there, now that
+the Imperial letter could no longer be given by him to the Grand Duke,
+and when he did not even know the contents of it? Alcide Jolivet and
+Blount could not understand it any more than Nadia had done.
+
+No one spoke of the past, except when Jolivet thought it his duty to say
+to Michael, "We owe you some apology for not shaking hands with you when
+we separated at Ichim."
+
+"No, you had reason to think me a coward!"
+
+"At any rate," added the Frenchman, "you knouted the face of that
+villain finely, and he will carry the mark of it for a long time!"
+
+"No, not a long time!" replied Michael quietly.
+
+Half an hour after leaving Livenitchnaia, Blount and his companion were
+acquainted with the cruel trials through which Michael and his companion
+had successively passed. They could not but heartily admire his energy,
+which was only equaled by the young girl's devotion. Their opinion of
+Michael was exactly what the Czar had expressed at Moscow: "Indeed, this
+is a Man!"
+
+The raft swiftly threaded its way among the blocks of ice which were
+carried along in the current of the Angara. A moving panorama was
+displayed on both sides of the river, and, by an optical illusion, it
+appeared as if it was the raft which was motionless before a succession
+of picturesque scenes. Here were high granite cliffs, there wild gorges,
+down which rushed a torrent; sometimes appeared a clearing with a still
+smoking village, then thick pine forests blazing. But though the Tartars
+had left their traces on all sides, they themselves were not to be
+seen as yet, for they were more especially massed at the approaches to
+Irkutsk.
+
+All this time the pilgrims were repeating their prayers aloud, and the
+old boatman, shoving away the blocks of ice which pressed too near them,
+imperturbably steered the raft in the middle of the rapid current of the
+Angara.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI BETWEEN TWO BANKS
+
+BY eight in the evening, the country, as the state of the sky had
+foretold, was enveloped in complete darkness. The moon being new had not
+yet risen. From the middle of the river the banks were invisible. The
+cliffs were confounded with the heavy, low-hanging clouds. At intervals
+a puff of wind came from the east, but it soon died away in the narrow
+valley of the Angara.
+
+The darkness could not fail to favor in a considerable degree the plans
+of the fugitives. Indeed, although the Tartar outposts must have
+been drawn up on both banks, the raft had a good chance of passing
+unperceived. It was not likely either that the besiegers would have
+barred the river above Irkutsk, since they knew that the Russians could
+not expect any help from the south of the province. Besides this, before
+long Nature would herself establish a barrier, by cementing with frost
+the blocks of ice accumulated between the two banks.
+
+Perfect silence now reigned on board the raft. The voices of the
+pilgrims were no longer heard. They still prayed, but their prayer was
+but a murmur, which could not reach as far as either bank. The fugitives
+lay flat on the platform, so that the raft was scarcely above the level
+of the water. The old boatman crouched down forward among his men,
+solely occupied in keeping off the ice blocks, a maneuver which was
+performed without noise.
+
+The drifting of the ice was a favorable circumstance so long as it did
+not offer an insurmountable obstacle to the passage of the raft. If that
+object had been alone on the water, it would have run a risk of being
+seen, even in the darkness, but, as it was, it was confounded with these
+moving masses, of all shapes and sizes, and the tumult caused by
+the crashing of the blocks against each other concealed likewise any
+suspicious noises.
+
+There was a sharp frost. The fugitives suffered cruelly, having no
+other shelter than a few branches of birch. They cowered down together,
+endeavoring to keep each other warm, the temperature being now ten
+degrees below freezing point. The wind, though slight, having passed
+over the snow-clad mountains of the east, pierced them through and
+through.
+
+Michael and Nadia, lying in the afterpart of the raft, bore this
+increase of suffering without complaint. Jolivet and Blount, placed near
+them, stood these first assaults of the Siberian winter as well as they
+could. No one now spoke, even in a low voice. Their situation entirely
+absorbed them. At any moment an incident might occur, which they could
+not escape unscathed.
+
+For a man who hoped soon to accomplish his mission, Michael was
+singularly calm. Even in the gravest conjunctures, his energy had
+never abandoned him. He already saw the moment when he would be at
+last allowed to think of his mother, of Nadia, of himself! He now only
+dreaded one final unhappy chance; this was, that the raft might be
+completely barred by ice before reaching Irkutsk. He thought but of
+this, determined beforehand, if necessary, to attempt some bold stroke.
+
+Restored by a few hours' rest, Nadia had regained the physical energy
+which misery had sometimes overcome, although without ever having shaken
+her moral energy. She thought, too, that if Michael had to make any
+fresh effort to attain his end, she must be there to guide him. But in
+proportion as she drew nearer to Irkutsk, the image of her father rose
+more and more clearly before her mind. She saw him in the invested town,
+far from those he loved, but, as she never doubted, struggling against
+the invaders with all the spirit of his patriotism. In a few hours, if
+Heaven favored them, she would be in his arms, giving him her mother's
+last words, and nothing should ever separate them again. If the term of
+Wassili Fedor's exile should never come to an end, his daughter would
+remain exiled with him. Then, by a natural transition, she came back
+to him who would have enabled her to see her father once more, to that
+generous companion, that "brother," who, the Tartars driven back, would
+retake the road to Moscow, whom she would perhaps never meet again!
+
+As to Alcide Jolivet and Harry Blount, they had one and the same
+thought, which was, that the situation was extremely dramatic, and that,
+well worked up, it would furnish a most deeply interesting article.
+The Englishman thought of the readers of the Daily Telegraph, and the
+Frenchman of those of his Cousin Madeleine. At heart, both were not
+without feeling some emotion.
+
+"Well, so much the better!" thought Alcide Jolivet, "to move others, one
+must be moved one's self! I believe there is some celebrated verse
+on the subject, but hang me if I can recollect it!" And with his
+well-practiced eyes he endeavored to pierce the gloom of the river.
+
+Every now and then a burst of light dispelling the darkness for a time,
+exhibited the banks under some fantastic aspect--either a forest
+on fire, or a still burning village. The Angara was occasionally
+illuminated from one bank to the other. The blocks of ice formed so many
+mirrors, which, reflecting the flames on every point and in every
+color, were whirled along by the caprice of the current. The raft passed
+unperceived in the midst of these floating masses.
+
+The danger was not at these points.
+
+But a peril of another nature menaced the fugitives. One that they
+could not foresee, and, above all, one that they could not avoid. Chance
+discovered it to Alcide Jolivet in this way:--Lying at the right side
+of the raft, he let his hand hang over into the water. Suddenly he was
+surprised by the impression made on it by the current. It seemed to be
+of a slimy consistency, as if it had been made of mineral oil. Alcide,
+aiding his touch by his sense of smell, could not be mistaken. It was
+really a layer of liquid naphtha, floating on the surface of the river!
+
+Was the raft really floating on this substance, which is in the highest
+degree combustible? Where had this naphtha come from? Was it a natural
+phenomenon taking place on the surface of the Angara, or was it to serve
+as an engine of destruction, put in motion by the Tartars? Did they
+intend to carry conflagration into Irkutsk?
+
+Such were the questions which Alcide asked himself, but he thought it
+best to make this incident known only to Harry Blount, and they both
+agreed in not alarming their companions by revealing to them this new
+danger.
+
+It is known that the soil of Central Asia is like a sponge impregnated
+with liquid hydrogen. At the port of Bakou, on the Persian frontier,
+on the Caspian Sea, in Asia Minor, in China, on the Yuen-Kiang, in the
+Burman Empire, springs of mineral oil rise in thousands to the surface
+of the ground. It is an "oil country," similar to the one which bears
+this name in North America.
+
+During certain religious festivals, principally at the port of Bakou,
+the natives, who are fire-worshipers, throw liquid naphtha on the
+surface of the sea, which buoys it up, its density being inferior to
+that of water. Then at nightfall, when a layer of mineral oil is thus
+spread over the Caspian, they light it, and exhibit the matchless
+spectacle of an ocean of fire undulating and breaking into waves under
+the breeze.
+
+But what is only a sign of rejoicing at Bakou, might prove a fearful
+disaster on the waters of the Angara. Whether it was set on fire by
+malevolence or imprudence, in the twinkling of an eye a conflagration
+might spread beyond Irkutsk. On board the raft no imprudence was to be
+feared; but everything was to be dreaded from the conflagrations on both
+banks of the Angara, for should a lighted straw or even a spark blow
+into the water, it would inevitably set the whole current of naphtha in
+a blaze.
+
+The apprehensions of Jolivet and Blount may be better understood than
+described. Would it not be prudent, in face of this new danger, to
+land on one of the banks and wait there? "At any rate," said Alcide,
+"whatever the danger may be, I know some one who will not land!"
+
+He alluded to Michael Strogoff.
+
+In the meantime, on glided the raft among the masses of ice which were
+gradually getting closer and closer together. Up till then, no Tartar
+detachment had been seen, which showed that the raft was not abreast of
+the outposts. At about ten o'clock, however, Harry Blount caught sight
+of a number of black objects moving on the ice blocks. Springing from
+one to the other, they rapidly approached.
+
+"Tartars!" he thought. And creeping up to the old boatman, he pointed
+out to him the suspicious objects.
+
+The old man looked attentively. "They are only wolves!" said he. "I
+like them better than Tartars. But we must defend ourselves, and without
+noise!"
+
+The fugitives would indeed have to defend themselves against these
+ferocious beasts, whom hunger and cold had sent roaming through the
+province. They had smelt out the raft, and would soon attack it. The
+fugitives must struggle without using firearms, for they could not now
+be far from the Tartar posts. The women and children were collected in
+the middle of the raft, and the men, some armed with poles, others with
+their knives, stood prepared to repulse their assailants. They did not
+make a sound, but the howls of the wolves filled the air.
+
+Michael did not wish to remain inactive. He lay down at the side
+attacked by the savage pack. He drew his knife, and every time that a
+wolf passed within his reach, his hand found out the way to plunge his
+weapon into its throat. Neither were Jolivet and Blount idle, but fought
+bravely with the brutes. Their companions gallantly seconded them.
+The battle was carried on in silence, although many of the fugitives
+received severe bites.
+
+The struggle did not appear as if it would soon terminate. The pack was
+being continually reinforced from the right bank of the Angara. "This
+will never be finished!" said Alcide, brandishing his dagger, red with
+blood.
+
+In fact, half an hour after the commencement of the attack, the wolves
+were still coming in hundreds across the ice. The exhausted fugitives
+were getting weaker. The fight was going against them. At that moment, a
+group of ten huge wolves, raging with hunger, their eyes glowing in the
+darkness like red coals, sprang onto the raft. Jolivet and his companion
+threw themselves into the midst of the fierce beasts, and Michael was
+finding his way towards them, when a sudden change took place.
+
+In a few moments the wolves had deserted not only the raft, but also
+the ice on the river. All the black bodies dispersed, and it was soon
+certain that they had in all haste regained the shore. Wolves, like
+other beasts of prey, require darkness for their proceedings, and at
+that moment a bright light illuminated the entire river.
+
+It was the blaze of an immense fire. The whole of the small town of
+Poshkavsk was burning. The Tartars were indeed there, finishing their
+work. From this point, they occupied both banks beyond Irkutsk. The
+fugitives had by this time reached the dangerous part of their voyage,
+and they were still twenty miles from the capital.
+
+It was now half past eleven. The raft continued to glide on amongst the
+ice, with which it was quite mingled, but gleams of light sometimes
+fell upon it. The fugitives stretched on the platform did not permit
+themselves to make a movement by which they might be betrayed.
+
+The conflagration was going on with frightful rapidity. The houses,
+built of fir-wood, blazed like torches--a hundred and fifty flaming
+at once. With the crackling of the fire was mingled the yells of the
+Tartars. The old boatman, getting a foothold on a near piece of ice,
+managed to shove the raft towards the right bank, by doing which a
+distance of from three to four hundred feet divided it from the flames
+of Poshkavsk.
+
+Nevertheless, the fugitives, lighted every now and then by the glare,
+would have been undoubtedly perceived had not the incendiaries been too
+much occupied in their work of destruction.
+
+It may be imagined what were the apprehensions of Jolivet and Blount,
+when they thought of the combustible liquid on which the raft floated.
+Sparks flew in millions from the houses, which resembled so many glowing
+furnaces. They rose among the volumes of smoke to a height of five or
+six hundred feet. On the right bank, the trees and cliffs exposed to
+the fire looked as if they likewise were burning. A spark falling on the
+surface of the Angara would be sufficient to spread the flames along the
+current, and to carry disaster from one bank to the other. The result
+of this would be in a short time the destruction of the raft and of all
+those which it carried.
+
+But, happily, the breeze did not blow from that side. It came from the
+east, and drove the flames towards the left. It was just possible that
+the fugitives would escape this danger. The blazing town was at last
+passed. Little by little the glare grew dimmer, the crackling became
+fainter, and the flames at last disappeared behind the high cliffs which
+arose at an abrupt turn of the river.
+
+By this time it was nearly midnight. The deep gloom again threw its
+protecting shadows over the raft. The Tartars were there, going to and
+fro near the river. They could not be seen, but they could be heard. The
+fires of the outposts burned brightly.
+
+In the meantime it had become necessary to steer more carefully among
+the blocks of ice. The old boatman stood up, and the moujiks resumed
+their poles. They had plenty of work, the management of the raft
+becoming more and more difficult as the river was further obstructed.
+
+Michael had crept forward; Jolivet followed; both listened to what the
+old boatman and his men were saying.
+
+"Look out on the right!"
+
+"There are blocks drifting on to us on the left!"
+
+"Fend! fend off with your boat-hook!"
+
+"Before an hour is past we shall be stopped!"
+
+"If it is God's will!" answered the old man. "Against His will there is
+nothing to be done."
+
+"You hear them," said Alcide.
+
+"Yes," replied Michael, "but God is with us!"
+
+The situation became more and more serious. Should the raft be stopped,
+not only would the fugitives not reach Irkutsk, but they would be
+obliged to leave their floating platform, for it would be very soon
+smashed to pieces in the ice. The osier ropes would break, the fir
+trunks torn asunder would drift under the hard crust, and the unhappy
+people would have no refuge but the ice blocks themselves. Then, when
+day came, they would be seen by the Tartars, and massacred without
+mercy!
+
+Michael returned to the spot where Nadia was waiting for him. He
+approached the girl, took her hand, and put to her the invariable
+question: "Nadia, are you ready?" to which she replied as usual, "I am
+ready!"
+
+For a few versts more the raft continued to drift amongst the floating
+ice. Should the river narrow, it would soon form an impassable barrier.
+Already they seemed to drift slower. Every moment they encountered
+severe shocks or were compelled to make detours; now, to avoid running
+foul of a block, there to enter a channel, of which it was necessary
+to take advantage. At length the stoppages became still more alarming.
+There were only a few more hours of night. Could the fugitives not reach
+Irkutsk by five o'clock in the morning, they must lose all hope of ever
+getting there at all.
+
+At half-past one, notwithstanding all efforts, the raft came up against
+a thick barrier and stuck fast. The ice, which was drifting down behind
+it, pressed it still closer, and kept it motionless, as though it had
+been stranded.
+
+At this spot the Angara narrowed, it being half its usual breadth.
+This was the cause of the accumulation of ice, which became gradually
+soldered together, under the double influence of the increased pressure
+and of the cold. Five hundred feet beyond, the river widened again, and
+the blocks, gradually detaching themselves from the floe, continued to
+drift towards Irkutsk. It was probable that had the banks not narrowed,
+the barrier would not have formed. But the misfortune was irreparable,
+and the fugitives must give up all hope of attaining their object.
+
+Had they possessed the tools usually employed by whalers to cut channels
+through the ice-fields--had they been able to get through to where the
+river widened--they might have been saved. But they had nothing which
+could make the least incision in the ice, hard as granite in the
+excessive frost. What were they to do?
+
+At that moment several shots on the right bank startled the unhappy
+fugitives. A shower of balls fell on the raft. The devoted passengers
+had been seen. Immediately afterwards shots were heard fired from the
+left bank. The fugitives, taken between two fires, became the mark of
+the Tartar sharpshooters. Several were wounded, although in the darkness
+it was only by chance that they were hit.
+
+"Come, Nadia," whispered Michael in the girl's ear.
+
+Without making a single remark, "ready for anything," Nadia took
+Michael's hand.
+
+"We must cross the barrier," he said in a low tone. "Guide me, but let
+no one see us leave the raft."
+
+Nadia obeyed. Michael and she glided rapidly over the floe in the
+obscurity, only broken now and again by the flashes from the muskets.
+Nadia crept along in front of Michael. The shot fell around them like a
+tempest of hail, and pattered on the ice. Their hands were soon covered
+with blood from the sharp and rugged ice over which they clambered, but
+still on they went.
+
+In ten minutes, the other side of the barrier was reached. There
+the waters of the Angara again flowed freely. Several pieces of ice,
+detached gradually from the floe, were swept along in the current down
+towards the town. Nadia guessed what Michael wished to attempt. One of
+the blocks was only held on by a narrow strip.
+
+"Come," said Nadia. And the two crouched on the piece of ice, which
+their weight detached from the floe.
+
+It began to drift. The river widened, the way was open. Michael and
+Nadia heard the shots, the cries of distress, the yells of the Tartars.
+Then, little by little, the sounds of agony and of ferocious joy grew
+faint in the distance.
+
+"Our poor companions!" murmured Nadia.
+
+For half an hour the current hurried along the block of ice which bore
+Michael and Nadia. They feared every moment that it would give
+way beneath them. Swept along in the middle of the current, it was
+unnecessary to give it an oblique direction until they drew near the
+quays of Irkutsk. Michael, his teeth tight set, his ear on the strain,
+did not utter a word. Never had he been so near his object. He felt that
+he was about to attain it!
+
+Towards two in the morning a double row of lights glittered on the dark
+horizon in which were confounded the two banks of the Angara. On the
+right hand were the lights of Irkutsk; on the left, the fires of the
+Tartar camp.
+
+Michael Strogoff was not more than half a verst from the town. "At
+last!" he murmured.
+
+But suddenly Nadia uttered a cry.
+
+At the cry Michael stood up on the ice, which was wavering. His hand
+was extended up the Angara. His face, on which a bluish light cast a
+peculiar hue, became almost fearful to look at, and then, as if his eyes
+had been opened to the bright blaze spreading across the river, "Ah!" he
+exclaimed, "then Heaven itself is against us!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII IRKUTSK
+
+IRKUTSK, the capital of Eastern Siberia, is a populous town, containing,
+in ordinary times, thirty thousand inhabitants. On the right side of
+the Angara rises a hill, on which are built numerous churches, a lofty
+cathedral, and dwellings disposed in picturesque disorder.
+
+Seen at a distance, from the top of the mountain which rises at about
+twenty versts off along the Siberian highroad, this town, with its
+cupolas, its bell-towers, its steeples slender as minarets, its domes
+like pot-bellied Chinese jars, presents something of an oriental aspect.
+But this similarity vanishes as the traveler enters.
+
+The town, half Byzantine, half Chinese, becomes European as soon as
+he sees its macadamized roads, bordered with pavements, traversed by
+canals, planted with gigantic birches, its houses of brick and wood,
+some of which have several stories, the numerous equipages which drive
+along, not only tarantasses but broughams and coaches; lastly, its
+numerous inhabitants far advanced in civilization, to whom the latest
+Paris fashions are not unknown.
+
+Being the refuge for all the Siberians of the province, Irkutsk was
+at this time very full. Stores of every kind had been collected
+in abundance. Irkutsk is the emporium of the innumerable kinds of
+merchandise which are exchanged between China, Central Asia, and Europe.
+The authorities had therefore no fear with regard to admitting the
+peasants of the valley of the Angara, and leaving a desert between the
+invaders and the town.
+
+Irkutsk is the residence of the governor-general of Eastern Siberia.
+Below him acts a civil governor, in whose hands is the administration
+of the province; a head of police, who has much to do in a town where
+exiles abound; and, lastly, a mayor, chief of the merchants, and a
+person of some importance, from his immense fortune and the influence
+which he exercises over the people.
+
+The garrison of Irkutsk was at that time composed of an infantry
+regiment of Cossacks, consisting of two thousand men, and a body of
+police wearing helmets and blue uniforms laced with silver. Besides,
+as has been said, in consequence of the events which had occurred, the
+brother of the Czar had been shut up in the town since the beginning of
+the invasion.
+
+A journey of political importance had taken the Grand Duke to these
+distant provinces of Central Asia. After passing through the principal
+Siberian cities, the Grand Duke, who traveled en militaire rather than
+en prince, without any parade, accompanied by his officers, and escorted
+by a regiment of Cossacks, arrived in the Trans-Baikalcine provinces.
+Nikolaevsk, the last Russian town situated on the shore of the Sea of
+Okhotsk, had been honored by a visit from him. Arrived on the confines
+of the immense Muscovite Empire, the Grand Duke was returning towards
+Irkutsk, from which place he intended to retake the road to Moscow,
+when, sudden as a thunder clap, came the news of the invasion.
+
+He hastened to the capital, but only reached it just before
+communication with Russia had been interrupted. There was time to
+receive only a few telegrams from St. Petersburg and Moscow, and with
+difficulty to answer them before the wire was cut. Irkutsk was isolated
+from the rest of the world.
+
+The Grand Duke had now only to prepare for resistance, and this he
+did with that determination and coolness of which, under other
+circumstances, he had given incontestable proofs. The news of the
+taking of Ichim, Omsk, and Tomsk, successively reached Irkutsk. It was
+necessary at any price to save the capital of Siberia. Reinforcements
+could not be expected for some time. The few troops scattered about in
+the provinces of Siberia could not arrive in sufficiently large numbers
+to arrest the progress of the Tartar columns. Since therefore it was
+impossible for Irkutsk to escape attack, the most important thing to be
+done was to put the town in a state to sustain a siege of some duration.
+
+The preparations were begun on the day Tomsk fell into the hands of the
+Tartars. At the same time with this last news, the Grand Duke heard that
+the Emir of Bokhara and the allied Khans were directing the invasion
+in person, but what he did not know was, that the lieutenant of these
+barbarous chiefs was Ivan Ogareff, a Russian officer whom he had himself
+reduced to the ranks, but with whose person he was not acquainted.
+
+First of all, as we have seen, the inhabitants of the province of
+Irkutsk were compelled to abandon the towns and villages. Those who
+did not take refuge in the capital had to retire beyond Lake Baikal, a
+district to which the invasion would probably not extend its ravages.
+The harvests of corn and fodder were collected and stored up in the
+town, and Irkutsk, the last bulwark of the Muscovite power in the
+Far East, was put in a condition to resist the enemy for a lengthened
+period.
+
+Irkutsk, founded in 1611, is situated at the confluence of the Irkut
+and the Angara, on the right bank of the latter river. Two wooden
+draw-bridges, built on piles, connected the town with its suburbs on the
+left bank. On this side, defence was easy. The suburbs were abandoned,
+the bridges destroyed. The Angara being here very wide, it would not be
+possible to pass it under the fire of the besieged.
+
+But the river might be crossed both above and below the town, and
+consequently, Irkutsk ran a risk of being attacked on its east side, on
+which there was no wall to protect it.
+
+The whole population were immediately set to work on the fortifications.
+They labored day and night. The Grand Duke observed with satisfaction
+the zeal exhibited by the people in the work, whom ere long he would
+find equally courageous in the defense. Soldiers, merchants, exiles,
+peasants, all devoted themselves to the common safety. A week before the
+Tartars appeared on the Angara, earth-works had been raised. A fosse,
+flooded by the waters of the Angara, was dug between the scarp and
+counterscarp. The town could not now be taken by a coup de main. It must
+be invested and besieged.
+
+The third Tartar column--the one which came up the valley of the Yenisei
+on the 24th of September--appeared in sight of Irkutsk. It immediately
+occupied the deserted suburbs, every building in which had been
+destroyed so as not to impede the fire of the Grand Duke's guns,
+unfortunately but few in number and of small caliber. The Tartar troops
+as they arrived organized a camp on the bank of the Angara, whilst
+waiting the arrival of the two other columns, commanded by the Emir and
+his allies.
+
+The junction of these different bodies was effected on the 25th of
+September, in the Angara camp, and the whole of the invading army,
+except the garrisons left in the principal conquered towns, was
+concentrated under the command of Feofar-Khan.
+
+The passage of the Angara in front of Irkutsk having been regarded
+by Ogareff as impracticable, a strong body of troops crossed, several
+versts up the river, by means of bridges formed with boats. The Grand
+Duke did not attempt to oppose the enemy in their passage. He could only
+impede, not prevent it, having no field-artillery at his disposal, and
+he therefore remained in Irkutsk.
+
+The Tartars now occupied the right bank of the river; then, advancing
+towards the town, they burnt, in passing, the summer-house of the
+governor-general, and at last having entirely invested Irkutsk, took up
+their positions for the siege.
+
+Ivan Ogareff, who was a clever engineer, was perfectly competent
+to direct a regular siege; but he did not possess the materials for
+operating rapidly. He was disappointed too in the chief object of all
+his efforts--the surprise of Irkutsk. Things had not turned out as he
+hoped. First, the march of the Tartar army was delayed by the battle of
+Tomsk; and secondly, the preparations for the defense were made far more
+rapidly than he had supposed possible; these two things had balked his
+plans. He was now under the necessity of instituting a regular siege of
+the town.
+
+However, by his suggestion, the Emir twice attempted the capture of the
+place, at the cost of a large sacrifice of men. He threw soldiers on the
+earth-works which presented any weak point; but these two assaults were
+repulsed with the greatest courage. The Grand Duke and his officers did
+not spare themselves on this occasion. They appeared in person; they
+led the civil population to the ramparts. Citizens and peasants both did
+their duty.
+
+At the second attack, the Tartars managed to force one of the gates. A
+fight took place at the head of Bolchaia Street, two versts long, on the
+banks of the Angara. But the Cossacks, the police, the citizens, united
+in so fierce a resistance that the Tartars were driven out.
+
+Ivan Ogareff then thought of obtaining by stratagem what he could not
+gain by force. We have said that his plan was to penetrate into the
+town, make his way to the Grand Duke, gain his confidence, and, when the
+time came, give up the gates to the besiegers; and, that done, wreak
+his vengeance on the brother of the Czar. The Tsigane Sangarre, who had
+accompanied him to the Angara, urged him to put this plan in execution.
+
+Indeed, it was necessary to act without delay. The Russian troops from
+the government of Yakutsk were advancing towards Irkutsk. They had
+concentrated along the upper course of the Lena. In six days they would
+arrive. Therefore, before six days had passed, Irkutsk must be betrayed.
+Ogareff hesitated no longer.
+
+One evening, the 2d of October, a council of war was held in the grand
+saloon of the palace of the governor-general. This palace, standing at
+the end of Bolchaia Street, overlooked the river. From its windows could
+be seen the camp of the Tartars, and had the invaders possessed guns of
+wider range, they would have rendered the palace uninhabitable.
+
+The Grand Duke, General Voranzoff, the governor of the town, and
+the chief of the merchants, with several officers, had collected to
+determine upon various proposals.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Grand Duke, "you know our situation exactly. I
+have the firm hope that we shall be able to hold out until the arrival
+of the Yakutsk troops. We shall then be able to drive off these
+barbarian hordes, and it will not be my fault if they do not pay dearly
+for this invasion of the Muscovite territory."
+
+"Your Highness knows that all the population of Irkutsk may be relied
+on," said General Voranzoff.
+
+"Yes, general," replied the Grand Duke, "and I do justice to their
+patriotism. Thanks to God, they have not yet been subjected to the
+horrors of epidemic and famine, and I have reason to hope that they will
+escape them; but I cannot admire their courage on the ramparts enough.
+You hear my words, Sir Merchant, and I beg you to repeat such to them."
+
+"I thank your Highness in the name of the town," answered the merchant
+chief. "May I ask you what is the most distant date when we may expect
+the relieving army?"
+
+"Six days at most, sir," replied the Grand Duke. "A brave and clever
+messenger managed this morning to get into the town, and he told me that
+fifty thousand Russians under General Kisselef, are advancing by forced
+marches. Two days ago, they were on the banks of the Lena, at Kirensk,
+and now, neither frost nor snow will keep them back. Fifty thousand good
+men, taking the Tartars on the flank, will soon set us free."
+
+"I will add," said the chief of the merchants, "that we shall be
+ready to execute your orders, any day that your Highness may command a
+sortie."
+
+"Good, sir," replied the Grand Duke. "Wait till the heads of the
+relieving columns appear on the heights, and we will speedily crush
+these invaders."
+
+Then turning to General Voranzoff, "To-morrow," said he, "we will visit
+the works on the right bank. Ice is drifting down the Angara, which
+will not be long in freezing, and in that case the Tartars might perhaps
+cross."
+
+"Will your Highness allow me to make an observation?" said the chief of
+the merchants.
+
+"Do so, sir."
+
+"I have more than once seen the temperature fall to thirty and forty
+degrees below zero, and the Angara has still carried down drifting ice
+without entirely freezing. This is no doubt owing to the swiftness of
+its current. If therefore the Tartars have no other means of crossing
+the river, I can assure your Highness that they will not enter Irkutsk
+in that way."
+
+The governor-general confirmed this assertion.
+
+"It is a fortunate circumstance," responded the Grand Duke.
+"Nevertheless, we must hold ourselves ready for any emergency."
+
+He then, turning towards the head of the police, asked, "Have you
+nothing to say to me, sir?"
+
+"I have your Highness," answered the head of police, "a petition which
+is addressed to you through me."
+
+"Addressed by whom?"
+
+"By the Siberian exiles, whom, as your Highness knows, are in the town
+to the number of five hundred."
+
+The political exiles, distributed over the province, had been collected
+in Irkutsk, from the beginning of the invasion. They had obeyed the
+order to rally in the town, and leave the villages where they exercised
+their different professions, some doctors, some professors, either
+at the Gymnasium, or at the Japanese School, or at the School of
+Navigation. The Grand Duke, trusting like the Czar in their patriotism,
+had armed them, and they had thoroughly proved their bravery.
+
+"What do the exiles ask?" said the Grand Duke.
+
+"They ask the consent of your Highness," answered the head of police,
+"to their forming a special corps and being placed in the front of the
+first sortie."
+
+"Yes," replied the Grand Duke with an emotion which he did not seek to
+hide, "these exiles are Russians, and it is their right to fight for
+their country!"
+
+"I believe I may assure your Highness," said the governor-general, "you
+will have no better soldiers."
+
+"But they must have a chief," said the Grand Duke, "who will he be?"
+
+"They wish to recommend to your Highness," said the head of police, "one
+of their number, who has distinguished himself on several occasions."
+
+"Is he a Russian?"
+
+"Yes, a Russian from the Baltic provinces."
+
+"His name?"
+
+"Is Wassili Fedor."
+
+This exile was Nadia's father. Wassili Fedor, as we have already said,
+followed his profession of a medical man in Irkutsk. He was clever and
+charitable, and also possessed the greatest courage and most sincere
+patriotism. All the time which he did not devote to the sick he employed
+in organizing the defense. It was he who had united his companions
+in exile in the common cause. The exiles, till then mingled with the
+population, had behaved in such a way as to draw on themselves the
+attention of the Grand Duke. In several sorties, they had paid with
+their blood their debt to holy Russia--holy as they believe, and adored
+by her children! Wassili Fedor had behaved heroically; his name had been
+mentioned several times, but he never asked either thanks or favors, and
+when the exiles of Irkutsk thought of forming themselves into a special
+corps, he was ignorant of their intention of choosing him for their
+captain.
+
+When the head of police mentioned this name, the Grand Duke answered
+that it was not unknown to him.
+
+"Indeed," remarked General Voranzoff, "Wassili Fedor is a man of worth
+and courage. His influence over his companions has always been very
+great."
+
+"How long has he been at Irkutsk?" asked the Duke.
+
+"For two years."
+
+"And his conduct?"
+
+"His conduct," answered the head of police, "is that of a man obedient
+to the special laws which govern him."
+
+"General," said the Grand Duke, "General, be good enough to present him
+to me immediately."
+
+The orders of the Grand Duke were obeyed, and before half an hour had
+passed, Fedor was introduced into his presence. He was a man over forty,
+tall, of a stern and sad countenance. One felt that his whole life was
+summed up in a single word--strife--he had striven and suffered. His
+features bore a marked resemblance to those of his daughter, Nadia
+Fedor.
+
+This Tartar invasion had severely wounded him in his tenderest
+affections, and ruined the hope of the father, exiled eight thousand
+versts from his native town. A letter had apprised him of the death of
+his wife, and at the same time of the departure of his daughter, who had
+obtained from the government an authorization to join him at Irkutsk.
+Nadia must have left Riga on the 10th of July. The invasion had begun
+on the 15th of July; if at that time Nadia had passed the frontier, what
+could have become of her in the midst of the invaders? The anxiety
+of the unhappy father may be supposed when, from that time, he had no
+further news of his daughter.
+
+Wassili Fedor entered the presence of the Grand Duke, bowed, and waited
+to be questioned.
+
+"Wassili Fedor," said the Grand Duke, "your companions in exile have
+asked to be allowed to form a select corps. They are not ignorant that
+in this corps they must make up their minds to be killed to the last
+man?"
+
+"They are not ignorant of it," replied Fedor.
+
+"They wish to have you for their captain."
+
+"I, your Highness?"
+
+"Do you consent to be placed at their head?"
+
+"Yes, if it is for the good of Russia."
+
+"Captain Fedor," said the Grand Duke, "you are no longer an exile."
+
+"Thanks, your Highness, but can I command those who are so still?"
+
+"They are so no longer!" The brother of the Czar had granted a pardon to
+all Fedor's companions in exile, now his companions in arms!
+
+Wassili Fedor wrung, with emotion, the hand which the Grand Duke held
+out to him, and retired.
+
+The latter, turned to his officers, "The Czar will not refuse to ratify
+that pardon," said he, smiling; "we need heroes to defend the capital of
+Siberia, and I have just made some."
+
+This pardon, so generously accorded to the exiles of Irkutsk, was indeed
+an act of real justice and sound policy.
+
+It was now night. Through the windows of the palace burned the fires of
+the Tartar camp, flickering beyond the Angara. Down the river drifted
+numerous blocks of ice, some of which stuck on the piles of the old
+bridges; others were swept along by the current with great rapidity.
+It was evident, as the merchant had observed, that it would be very
+difficult for the Angara to freeze all over. The defenders of Irkutsk
+had not to dread being attacked on that side. Ten o'clock had just
+struck. The Grand Duke was about to dismiss his officers and retire to
+his apartments, when a tumult was heard outside the palace.
+
+Almost immediately the door was thrown open, an aide-de-camp appeared,
+and advanced rapidly towards the Grand Duke.
+
+"Your Highness," said he, "a courier from the Czar!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII THE CZAR'S COURIER
+
+ALL the members of the council simultaneously started forward. A courier
+from the Czar arrived in Irkutsk! Had these officers for a moment
+considered the improbability of this fact, they would certainly not have
+credited what they heard.
+
+The Grand Duke advanced quickly to his aide-de-camp. "This courier!" he
+exclaimed.
+
+A man entered. He appeared exhausted with fatigue. He wore the dress
+of a Siberian peasant, worn into tatters, and exhibiting several
+shot-holes. A Muscovite cap was on his head. His face was disfigured
+by a recently-healed scar. The man had evidently had a long and painful
+journey; his shoes being in a state which showed that he had been
+obliged to make part of it on foot.
+
+"His Highness the Grand Duke?" he asked.
+
+The Grand Duke went up to him. "You are a courier from the Czar?" he
+asked.
+
+"Yes, your Highness."
+
+"You come?"
+
+"From Moscow."
+
+"You left Moscow?"
+
+"On the 15th of July."
+
+"Your name?"
+
+"Michael Strogoff."
+
+It was Ivan Ogareff. He had taken the designation of the man whom he
+believed that he had rendered powerless. Neither the Grand Duke
+nor anyone knew him in Irkutsk, and he had not even to disguise his
+features. As he was in a position to prove his pretended identity,
+no one could have any reason for doubting him. He came, therefore,
+sustained by his iron will, to hasten by treason and assassination the
+great object of the invasion.
+
+After Ogareff had replied, the Grand Duke signed to all his officers
+to withdraw. He and the false Michael Strogoff remained alone in the
+saloon.
+
+The Grand Duke looked at Ivan Ogareff for some moments with extreme
+attention. Then he said, "On the 15th of July you were at Moscow?"
+
+"Yes, your Highness; and on the night of the 14th I saw His Majesty the
+Czar at the New Palace."
+
+"Have you a letter from the Czar?"
+
+"Here it is."
+
+And Ivan Ogareff handed to the Grand Duke the Imperial letter, crumpled
+to almost microscopic size.
+
+"Was the letter given you in this state?"
+
+"No, your Highness, but I was obliged to tear the envelope, the better
+to hide it from the Emir's soldiers."
+
+"Were you taken prisoner by the Tartars?"
+
+"Yes, your Highness, I was their prisoner for several days," answered
+Ogareff. "That is the reason that, having left Moscow on the 15th of
+July, as the date of that letter shows, I only reached Irkutsk on the 2d
+of October, after traveling seventy-nine days."
+
+The Grand Duke took the letter. He unfolded it and recognized the Czar's
+signature, preceded by the decisive formula, written by his brother's
+hand. There was no possible doubt of the authenticity of this letter,
+nor of the identity of the courier. Though Ogareff's countenance had at
+first inspired the Grand Duke with some distrust, he let nothing of it
+appear, and it soon vanished.
+
+The Grand Duke remained for a few minutes without speaking. He read the
+letter slowly, so as to take in its meaning fully. "Michael Strogoff, do
+you know the contents of this letter?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, your Highness. I might have been obliged to destroy it, to prevent
+its falling into the hands of the Tartars, and should such have been the
+case, I wished to be able to bring the contents of it to your Highness."
+
+"You know that this letter enjoins us all to die, rather than give up
+the town?"
+
+"I know it."
+
+"You know also that it informs me of the movements of the troops which
+have combined to stop the invasion?"
+
+"Yes, your Highness, but the movements have failed."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that Ichim, Omsk, Tomsk, to speak only of the more important
+towns of the two Siberias, have been successively occupied by the
+soldiers of Feofar-Khan."
+
+"But there has been fighting? Have not our Cossacks met the Tartars?"
+
+"Several times, your Highness."
+
+"And they were repulsed?"
+
+"They were not in sufficient force to oppose the enemy."
+
+"Where did the encounters take place?"
+
+"At Kolyvan, at Tomsk." Until now, Ogareff had only spoken the truth,
+but, in the hope of troubling the defenders of Irkutsk by exaggerating
+the defeats, he added, "And a third time before Krasnoiarsk."
+
+"And what of this last engagement?" asked the Grand Duke, through whose
+compressed lips the words could scarcely pass.
+
+"It was more than an engagement, your Highness," answered Ogareff; "it
+was a battle."
+
+"A battle?"
+
+"Twenty thousand Russians, from the frontier provinces and the
+government of Tobolsk, engaged with a hundred and fifty thousand
+Tartars, and, notwithstanding their courage, were overwhelmed."
+
+"You lie!" exclaimed the Grand Duke, endeavoring in vain to curb his
+passion.
+
+"I speak the truth, your Highness," replied Ivan Ogareff coldly. "I
+was present at the battle of Krasnoiarsk, and it was there I was made
+prisoner!"
+
+The Grand Duke grew calmer, and by a significant gesture he gave Ogareff
+to understand that he did not doubt his veracity. "What day did this
+battle of Krasnoiarsk take place?" he asked.
+
+"On the 2d of September."
+
+"And now all the Tartar troops are concentrated here?"
+
+"All."
+
+"And you estimate them?"
+
+"At about four hundred thousand men."
+
+Another exaggeration of Ogareff's in the estimate of the Tartar army,
+with the same object as before.
+
+"And I must not expect any help from the West provinces?" asked the
+Grand Duke.
+
+"None, your Highness, at any rate before the end of the winter."
+
+"Well, hear this, Michael Strogoff. Though I must expect no help either
+from the East or from the West, even were these barbarians six hundred
+thousand strong, I will never give up Irkutsk!"
+
+Ogareff's evil eye slightly contracted. The traitor thought to himself
+that the brother of the Czar did not reckon the result of treason.
+
+The Grand Duke, who was of a nervous temperament, had great difficulty
+in keeping calm whilst hearing this disastrous news. He walked to and
+fro in the room, under the gaze of Ogareff, who eyed him as a victim
+reserved for vengeance. He stopped at the windows, he looked forth at
+the fires in the Tartar camp, he listened to the noise of the ice-blocks
+drifting down the Angara.
+
+A quarter of an hour passed without his putting any more questions. Then
+taking up the letter, he re-read a passage and said, "You know that in
+this letter I am warned of a traitor, of whom I must beware?"
+
+"Yes, your Highness."
+
+"He will try to enter Irkutsk in disguise; gain my confidence, and
+betray the town to the Tartars."
+
+"I know all that, your Highness, and I know also that Ivan Ogareff has
+sworn to revenge himself personally on the Czar's brother."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"It is said that the officer in question was condemned by the Grand Duke
+to a humiliating degradation."
+
+"Yes, I remember. But it is a proof that the villain, who could
+afterwards serve against his country and head an invasion of barbarians,
+deserved it."
+
+"His Majesty the Czar," said Ogareff, "was particularly anxious that you
+should be warned of the criminal projects of Ivan Ogareff against your
+person."
+
+"Yes; of that the letter informs me."
+
+"And His Majesty himself spoke to me of it, telling me I was above all
+things to beware of the traitor."
+
+"Did you meet with him?"
+
+"Yes, your Highness, after the battle of Krasnoiarsk. If he had only
+guessed that I was the bearer of a letter addressed to your Highness, in
+which his plans were revealed, I should not have got off so easily."
+
+"No; you would have been lost!" replied the Grand Duke. "And how did you
+manage to escape?"
+
+"By throwing myself into the Irtych."
+
+"And how did you enter Irkutsk?"
+
+"Under cover of a sortie, which was made this evening to repulse a
+Tartar detachment. I mingled with the defenders of the town, made myself
+known, and was immediately conducted before your Highness."
+
+"Good, Michael Strogoff," answered the Grand Duke. "You have shown
+courage and zeal in your difficult mission. I will not forget you. Have
+you any favor to ask?"
+
+"None; unless it is to be allowed to fight at the side of your
+Highness," replied Ogareff.
+
+"So be it, Strogoff. I attach you from to-day to my person, and you
+shall be lodged in the palace."
+
+"And if according to his intention, Ivan Ogareff should present himself
+to your Highness under a false name?"
+
+"We will unmask him, thanks to you, who know him, and I will make him
+die under the knout. Go!"
+
+Ogareff gave a military salute, not forgetting that he was a captain of
+the couriers of the Czar, and retired.
+
+Ogareff had so far played his unworthy part with success. The Grand
+Duke's entire confidence had been accorded him. He could now betray it
+whenever it suited him. He would inhabit the very palace. He would be
+in the secret of all the operations for the defense of the town. He thus
+held the situation in his hand, as it were. No one in Irkutsk knew him,
+no one could snatch off his mask. He resolved therefore to set to work
+without delay.
+
+Indeed, time pressed. The town must be captured before the arrival of
+the Russians from the North and East, and that was only a question of a
+few days. The Tartars once masters of Irkutsk, it would not be easy
+to take it again from them. At any rate, even if they were obliged to
+abandon it later, they would not do so before they had utterly destroyed
+it, and before the head of the Grand Duke had rolled at the feet of
+Feofar-Khan.
+
+Ivan Ogareff, having every facility for seeing, observing, and acting,
+occupied himself the next day with visiting the ramparts. He was
+everywhere received with cordial congratulations from officers,
+soldiers, and citizens. To them this courier from the Czar was a link
+which connected them with the empire.
+
+Ogareff recounted, with an assurance which never failed, numerous
+fictitious events of his journey. Then, with the cunning for which he
+was noted, without dwelling too much on it at first, he spoke of the
+gravity of the situation, exaggerating the success of the Tartars and
+the numbers of the barbarian forces, as he had when speaking to
+the Grand Duke. According to him, the expected succors would be
+insufficient, if ever they arrived at all, and it was to be feared that
+a battle fought under the walls of Irkutsk would be as fatal as the
+battles of Kolyvan, Tomsk, and Krasnoiarsk.
+
+Ogareff was not too free in these insinuations. He wished to allow
+them to sink gradually into the minds of the defenders of Irkutsk.
+He pretended only to answer with reluctance when much pressed with
+questions. He always added that they must fight to the last man, and
+blow up the town rather than yield!
+
+These false statements would have done more harm had it been possible;
+but the garrison and the population of Irkutsk were too patriotic to let
+themselves be moved. Of all the soldiers and citizens shut up in this
+town, isolated at the extremity of the Asiatic world, not one dreamed of
+even speaking of a capitulation. The contempt of the Russians for these
+barbarians was boundless.
+
+No one suspected the odious part played by Ivan Ogareff; no one guessed
+that the pretended courier of the Czar was a traitor. It occurred very
+naturally that on his arrival in Irkutsk, a frequent intercourse was
+established between Ogareff and one of the bravest defenders of the
+town, Wassili Fedor. We know what anxiety this unhappy father suffered.
+If his daughter, Nadia Fedor, had left Russia on the date fixed by the
+last letter he had received from Riga, what had become of her? Was she
+still trying to cross the invaded provinces, or had she long since been
+taken prisoner? The only alleviation to Wassili Fedor's anxiety was
+when he could obtain an opportunity of engaging in battle with the
+Tartars--opportunities which came too seldom for his taste. The very
+evening the pretended courier arrived, Wassili Fedor went to
+the governor-general's palace and, acquainting Ogareff with the
+circumstances under which his daughter must have left European Russia,
+told him all his uneasiness about her. Ogareff did not know Nadia,
+although he had met her at Ichim on the day she was there with Michael
+Strogoff; but then, he had not paid more attention to her than to the
+two reporters, who at the same time were in the post-house; he therefore
+could give Wassili Fedor no news of his daughter.
+
+"But at what time," asked Ogareff, "must your daughter have left the
+Russian territory?"
+
+"About the same time that you did," replied Fedor.
+
+"I left Moscow on the 15th of July."
+
+"Nadia must also have quitted Moscow at that time. Her letter told me so
+expressly."
+
+"She was in Moscow on the 15th of July?"
+
+"Yes, certainly, by that date."
+
+"Then it was impossible for her--But no, I am mistaken--I was confusing
+dates. Unfortunately, it is too probable that your daughter must have
+passed the frontier, and you can only have one hope, that she stopped on
+learning the news of the Tartar invasion!"
+
+The father's head fell! He knew Nadia, and he knew too well that
+nothing would have prevented her from setting out. Ivan Ogareff had just
+committed gratuitously an act of real cruelty. With a word he might
+have reassured Fedor. Although Nadia had passed the frontier under
+circumstances with which we are acquainted, Fedor, by comparing the date
+on which his daughter would have been at Nijni-Novgorod, and the date of
+the proclamation which forbade anyone to leave it, would no doubt have
+concluded thus: that Nadia had not been exposed to the dangers of the
+invasion, and that she was still, in spite of herself, in the European
+territory of the Empire.
+
+Ogareff obedient to his nature, a man who was never touched by the
+sufferings of others, might have said that word. He did not say it.
+Fedor retired with his heart broken. In that interview his last hope was
+crushed.
+
+During the two following days, the 3rd and 4th of October, the Grand
+Duke often spoke to the pretended Michael Strogoff, and made him
+repeat all that he had heard in the Imperial Cabinet of the New Palace.
+Ogareff, prepared for all these questions, replied without the least
+hesitation. He intentionally did not conceal that the Czar's government
+had been utterly surprised by the invasion, that the insurrection had
+been prepared in the greatest possible secrecy, that the Tartars were
+already masters of the line of the Obi when the news reached Moscow, and
+lastly, that none of the necessary preparations were completed in the
+Russian provinces for sending into Siberia the troops requisite for
+repulsing the invaders.
+
+Ivan Ogareff, being entirely free in his movements, began to study
+Irkutsk, the state of its fortifications, their weak points, so as to
+profit subsequently by his observations, in the event of being prevented
+from consummating his act of treason. He examined particularly the
+Bolchaia Gate, the one he wished to deliver up.
+
+Twice in the evening he came upon the glacis of this gate. He walked
+up and down, without fear of being discovered by the besiegers, whose
+nearest posts were at least a mile from the ramparts. He fancied that he
+was recognized by no one, till he caught sight of a shadow gliding along
+outside the earthworks. Sangarre had come at the risk of her life for
+the purpose of putting herself in communication with Ivan Ogareff.
+
+For two days the besieged had enjoyed a tranquillity to which
+the Tartars had not accustomed them since the commencement of the
+investment. This was by Ogareff's orders. Feofar-Khan's lieutenant
+wished that all attempts to take the town by force should be suspended.
+He hoped the watchfulness of the besieged would relax. At any rate,
+several thousand Tartars were kept in readiness at the outposts, to
+attack the gate, deserted, as Ogareff anticipated that it would be, by
+its defenders, whenever he should summon the besiegers to the assault.
+
+This he could not now delay in doing. All must be over by the time
+that the Russian troops should come in sight of Irkutsk. Ogareff's
+arrangements were made, and on this evening a note fell from the top of
+the earthworks into Sangarre's hands.
+
+On the next day, that is to say during the hours of darkness from the
+5th to the 6th of October, at two o'clock in the morning, Ivan Ogareff
+had resolved to deliver up Irkutsk.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV THE NIGHT OF THE FIFTH OF OCTOBER
+
+IVAN OGAREFF'S plan had been contrived with the greatest care, and
+except for some unforeseen accident he believed that it must succeed.
+It was of importance that the Bolchaia Gate should be unguarded or
+only feebly held when he gave it up. The attention of the besieged
+was therefore to be drawn to another part of the town. A diversion was
+agreed upon with the Emir.
+
+This diversion was to be effected both up and down the river, on the
+Irkutsk bank. The attack on these two points was to be conducted in
+earnest, and at the same time a feigned attempt at crossing the Angara
+from the left bank was to be made. The Bolchaia Gate, would be probably
+deserted, so much the more because on this side the Tartar outposts
+having drawn back, would appear to have broken up.
+
+It was the 5th of October. In four and twenty hours, the capital of
+Eastern Siberia would be in the hands of the Emir, and the Grand Duke in
+the power of Ivan Ogareff.
+
+During the day, an unusual stir was going on in the Angara camp. From
+the windows of the palace important preparations on the opposite shore
+could be distinctly seen. Numerous Tartar detachments were converging
+towards the camp, and from hour to hour reinforced the Emir's troops.
+These movements, intended to deceive the besieged, were conducted in the
+most open manner possible before their eyes.
+
+Ogareff had warned the Grand Duke that an attack was to be feared. He
+knew, he said, that an assault was to be made, both above and below
+the town, and he counselled the Duke to reinforce the two directly
+threatened points. Accordingly, after a council of war had been held in
+the palace, orders were issued to concentrate the defense on the bank
+of the Angara and at the two ends of the town, where the earthworks
+protected the river.
+
+This was exactly what Ogareff wished. He did not expect that the
+Bolchaia Gate would be left entirely without defenders, but that there
+would only be a small number. Besides, Ogareff meant to give such
+importance to the diversion, that the Grand Duke would be obliged to
+oppose it with all his available forces. The traitor planned also to
+produce so frightful a catastrophe that terror must inevitably overwhelm
+the hearts of the besieged.
+
+All day the garrison and population of Irkutsk were on the alert. The
+measures to repel an attack on the points hitherto unassailed had
+been taken. The Grand Duke and General Voranzoff visited the posts,
+strengthened by their orders. Wassili Fedor's corps occupied the North
+of the town, but with orders to throw themselves where the danger was
+greatest. The right bank of the Angara had been protected with the few
+guns possessed by the defenders. With these measures, taken in time,
+thanks to the advice so opportunely given by Ivan Ogareff, there was
+good reason to hope that the expected attack would be repulsed. In
+that case the Tartars, momentarily discouraged, would no doubt not
+make another attempt against the town for several days. Now the troops
+expected by the Grand Duke might arrive at any hour. The safety or the
+loss of Irkutsk hung only by a thread.
+
+On this day, the sun which had risen at twenty minutes to six, set at
+forty minutes past five, having traced its diurnal arc for eleven
+hours above the horizon. The twilight would struggle with the night
+for another two hours. Then it would be intensely dark, for the sky was
+cloudy, and there would be no moon. This gloom would favor the plans of
+Ivan Ogareff.
+
+For a few days already a sharp frost had given warning of the
+approaching rigor of the Siberian winter, and this evening it was
+especially severe. The Russians posted by the bank of the Angara,
+obliged to conceal their position, lighted no fires. They suffered
+cruelly from the low temperature. A few feet below them, the ice in
+large masses drifted down the current. All day these masses had been
+seen passing rapidly between the two banks.
+
+This had been considered by the Grand Duke and his officers as
+fortunate. Should the channel of the Angara continue to be thus
+obstructed, the passage must be impracticable. The Tartars could use
+neither rafts nor boats. As to their crossing the river on the ice, that
+was not possible. The newly-frozen plain could not bear the weight of an
+assaulting column.
+
+This circumstance, as it appeared favorable to the defenders of Irkutsk,
+Ogareff might have regretted. He did not do so, however. The traitor
+knew well that the Tartars would not try to pass the Angara, and that,
+on its side at least, their attempt was only a feint.
+
+About ten in the evening, the state of the river sensibly improved, to
+the great surprise of the besieged and still more to their disadvantage.
+The passage till then impracticable, became all at once possible. The
+bed of the Angara was clear. The blocks of ice, which had for some days
+drifted past in large numbers, disappeared down the current, and five or
+six only now occupied the space between the banks. The Russian officers
+reported this change in the river to the Grand Duke. They suggested that
+it was probably caused by the circumstance that in some narrower part of
+the Angara, the blocks had accumulated so as to form a barrier.
+
+We know this was the case. The passage of the Angara was thus open to
+the besiegers. There was great reason for the Russians to be on their
+guard.
+
+Up to midnight nothing had occurred. On the Eastern side, beyond the
+Bolchaia Gate, all was quiet. Not a glimmer was seen in the dense
+forest, which appeared confounded on the horizon with the masses of
+clouds hanging low down in the sky. Lights flitting to and fro in the
+Angara camp, showed that a considerable movement was taking place. From
+a verst above and below the point where the scarp met the river's bank,
+came a dull murmur, proving that the Tartars were on foot, expecting
+some signal. An hour passed. Nothing new.
+
+The bell of the Irkutsk cathedral was about to strike two o'clock in
+the morning, and not a movement amongst the besiegers had yet shown that
+they were about to commence the assault. The Grand Duke and his officers
+began to suspect that they had been mistaken. Had it really been the
+Tartars' plan to surprise the town? The preceding nights had not been
+nearly so quiet--musketry rattling from the outposts, shells whistling
+through the air; and this time, nothing. The officers waited, ready to
+give their orders, according to circumstances.
+
+We have said that Ogareff occupied a room in the palace. It was a large
+chamber on the ground floor, its windows opening on a side terrace.
+By taking a few steps along this terrace, a view of the river could be
+obtained.
+
+Profound darkness reigned in the room. Ogareff stood by a window,
+awaiting the hour to act. The signal, of course, could come from him,
+alone. This signal once given, when the greater part of the defenders of
+Irkutsk would be summoned to the points openly attacked, his plan was to
+leave the palace and hurry to the Bolchaia Gate. If it was unguarded, he
+would open it; or at least he would direct the overwhelming mass of its
+assailants against the few defenders.
+
+He now crouched in the shadow, like a wild beast ready to spring on
+its prey. A few minutes before two o'clock, the Grand Duke desired
+that Michael Strogoff--which was the only name they could give to Ivan
+Ogareff--should be brought to him. An aide-de-camp came to the room, the
+door of which was closed. He called.
+
+Ogareff, motionless near the window, and invisible in the shade did not
+answer. The Grand Duke was therefore informed that the Czar's courier
+was not at that moment in the palace.
+
+Two o'clock struck. Now was the time to cause the diversion agreed
+upon with the Tartars, waiting for the assault. Ivan Ogareff opened the
+window and stationed himself at the North angle of the side terrace.
+
+Below him flowed the roaring waters of the Angara. Ogareff took a match
+from his pocket, struck it and lighted a small bunch of tow, impregnated
+with priming powder, which he threw into the river.
+
+It was by the orders of Ivan Ogareff that the torrents of mineral oil
+had been thrown on the surface of the Angara! There are numerous
+naphtha springs above Irkutsk, on the right bank, between the suburb
+of Poshkavsk and the town. Ogareff had resolved to employ this terrible
+means to carry fire into Irkutsk. He therefore took possession of the
+immense reservoirs which contained the combustible liquid. It was only
+necessary to demolish a piece of wall in order to allow it to flow out
+in a vast stream.
+
+This had been done that night, a few hours previously, and this was the
+reason that the raft which carried the true Courier of the Czar, Nadia,
+and the fugitives, floated on a current of mineral oil. Through the
+breaches in these reservoirs of enormous dimensions rushed the naphtha
+in torrents, and, following the inclination of the ground, it spread
+over the surface of the river, where its density allowed it to float.
+This was the way Ivan Ogareff carried on warfare! Allied with Tartars,
+he acted like a Tartar, and against his own countrymen!
+
+The tow had been thrown on the waters of the Angara. In an instant, with
+electrical rapidity, as if the current had been of alcohol, the whole
+river was in a blaze above and below the town. Columns of blue flames
+ran between the two banks. Volumes of vapor curled up above. The few
+pieces of ice which still drifted were seized by the burning liquid, and
+melted like wax on the top of a furnace, the evaporated water escaping
+in shrill hisses.
+
+At the same moment, firing broke out on the North and South of the town.
+The enemy's batteries discharged their guns at random. Several thousand
+Tartars rushed to the assault of the earth-works. The houses on the
+bank, built of wood, took fire in every direction. A bright light
+dissipated the darkness of the night.
+
+"At last!" said Ivan Ogareff.
+
+He had good reason for congratulating himself. The diversion which he
+had planned was terrible. The defenders of Irkutsk found themselves
+between the attack of the Tartars and the fearful effects of fire. The
+bells rang, and all the able-bodied of the population ran, some towards
+the points attacked, and others towards the houses in the grasp of the
+flames, which it seemed too probable would ere long envelop the whole
+town.
+
+The Gate of Bolchaia was nearly free. Only a very small guard had been
+left there. And by the traitor's suggestion, and in order that the event
+might be explained apart from him, as if by political hate, this small
+guard had been chosen from the little band of exiles.
+
+Ogareff re-entered his room, now brilliantly lighted by the flames from
+the Angara; then he made ready to go out. But scarcely had he opened the
+door, when a woman rushed into the room, her clothes drenched, her hair
+in disorder.
+
+"Sangarre!" exclaimed Ogareff, in the first moment of surprise, and not
+supposing that it could be any other woman than the gypsy.
+
+It was not Sangarre; it was Nadia!
+
+At the moment when, floating on the ice, the girl had uttered a cry on
+seeing the fire spreading along the current, Michael had seized her in
+his arms, and plunged with her into the river itself to seek a refuge
+in its depths from the flames. The block which bore them was not thirty
+fathoms from the first quay of Irkutsk.
+
+Swimming beneath the water, Michael managed to get a footing with Nadia
+on the quay. Michael Strogoff had reached his journey's end! He was in
+Irkutsk!
+
+"To the governor's palace!" said he to Nadia.
+
+In less than ten minutes, they arrived at the entrance to the palace.
+Long tongues of flame from the Angara licked its walls, but were
+powerless to set it on fire. Beyond the houses on the bank were in a
+blaze.
+
+The palace being open to all, Michael and Nadia entered without
+difficulty. In the confusion, no one remarked them, although their
+garments were dripping. A crowd of officers coming for orders, and of
+soldiers running to execute them, filled the great hall on the ground
+floor. There, in a sudden eddy of the confused multitude, Michael and
+the young girl were separated from each other.
+
+Nadia ran distracted through the passages, calling her companion, and
+asking to be taken to the Grand Duke. A door into a room flooded with
+light opened before her. She entered, and found herself suddenly face to
+face with the man whom she had met at Ichim, whom she had seen at Tomsk;
+face to face with the one whose villainous hand would an instant later
+betray the town!
+
+"Ivan Ogareff!" she cried.
+
+On hearing his name pronounced, the wretch started. His real name known,
+all his plans would be balked. There was but one thing to be done: to
+kill the person who had just uttered it. Ogareff darted at Nadia; but
+the girl, a knife in her hand, retreated against the wall, determined to
+defend herself.
+
+"Ivan Ogareff!" again cried Nadia, knowing well that so detested a name
+would soon bring her help.
+
+"Ah! Be silent!" hissed out the traitor between his clenched teeth.
+
+"Ivan Ogareff!" exclaimed a third time the brave young girl, in a voice
+to which hate had added ten-fold strength.
+
+Mad with fury, Ogareff, drawing a dagger from his belt, again rushed at
+Nadia and compelled her to retreat into a corner of the room. Her last
+hope appeared gone, when the villain, suddenly lifted by an irresistible
+force, was dashed to the ground.
+
+"Michael!" cried Nadia.
+
+It was Michael Strogoff. Michael had heard Nadia's call. Guided by her
+voice, he had just in time reached Ivan Ogareff's room, and entered by
+the open door.
+
+"Fear nothing, Nadia," said he, placing himself between her and Ogareff.
+
+"Ah!" cried the girl, "take care, brother! The traitor is armed! He can
+see!"
+
+Ogareff rose, and, thinking he had an immeasurable advantage over the
+blind man leaped upon him. But with one hand, the blind man grasped the
+arm of his enemy, seized his weapon, and hurled him again to the ground.
+
+Pale with rage and shame, Ogareff remembered that he wore a sword. He
+drew it and returned a second time to the charge. A blind man! Ogareff
+had only to deal with a blind man! He was more than a match for him!
+
+Nadia, terrified at the danger which threatened her companion ran to the
+door calling for help!
+
+"Close the door, Nadia!" said Michael. "Call no one, and leave me alone!
+The Czar's courier has nothing to fear to-day from this villain! Let him
+come on, if he dares! I am ready for him."
+
+In the mean time, Ogareff, gathering himself together like a tiger about
+to spring, uttered not a word. The noise of his footsteps, his very
+breathing, he endeavored to conceal from the ear of the blind man. His
+object was to strike before his opponent was aware of his approach, to
+strike him with a deadly blow.
+
+Nadia, terrified and at the same time confident, watched this terrible
+scene with involuntary admiration. Michael's calm bearing seemed to have
+inspired her. Michael's sole weapon was his Siberian knife. He did not
+see his adversary armed with a sword, it is true; but Heaven's support
+seemed to be afforded him. How, almost without stirring, did he always
+face the point of the sword?
+
+Ivan Ogareff watched his strange adversary with visible anxiety. His
+superhuman calm had an effect upon him. In vain, appealing to his
+reason, did he tell himself that in so unequal a combat all the
+advantages were on his side. The immobility of the blind man froze him.
+He had settled on the place where he would strike his victim. He had
+fixed upon it! What, then, hindered him from putting an end to his blind
+antagonist?
+
+At last, with a spring he drove his sword full at Michael's breast. An
+imperceptible movement of the blind man's knife turned aside the blow.
+Michael had not been touched, and coolly he awaited a second attack.
+
+Cold drops stood on Ogareff's brow. He drew back a step, then again
+leaped forward. But as had the first, this second attempt failed. The
+knife had simply parried the blow from the traitor's useless sword.
+
+Mad with rage and terror before this living statue, he gazed into the
+wide-open eyes of the blind man. Those eyes which seemed to pierce to
+the bottom of his soul, and yet which did not, could not, see--exercised
+a sort of dreadful fascination over him.
+
+All at once, Ogareff uttered a cry. A sudden light flashed across his
+brain. "He sees!" he exclaimed, "he sees!" And like a wild beast trying
+to retreat into its den, step by step, terrified, he drew back to the
+end of the room.
+
+Then the statue became animated, the blind man walked straight up to
+Ivan Ogareff, and placing himself right before him, "Yes, I see!" said
+he. "I see the mark of the knout which I gave you, traitor and coward! I
+see the place where I am about to strike you! Defend your life! It is a
+duel I deign to offer you! My knife against your sword!"
+
+"He sees!" said Nadia. "Gracious Heaven, is it possible!"
+
+Ogareff felt that he was lost. But mustering all his courage, he sprang
+forward on his impassible adversary. The two blades crossed, but at a
+touch from Michael's knife, wielded in the hand of the Siberian hunter,
+the sword flew in splinters, and the wretch, stabbed to the heart, fell
+lifeless on the ground.
+
+At the same moment, the door was thrown open. The Grand Duke,
+accompanied by some of his officers, appeared on the threshold. The
+Grand Duke advanced. In the body lying on the ground, he recognized the
+man whom he believed to be the Czar's courier.
+
+Then, in a threatening voice, "Who killed that man?" he asked.
+
+"I," replied Michael.
+
+One of the officers put a pistol to his temple, ready to fire.
+
+"Your name?" asked the Grand Duke, before giving the order for his
+brains to be blown out.
+
+"Your Highness," answered Michael, "ask me rather the name of the man
+who lies at your feet!"
+
+"That man, I know him! He is a servant of my brother! He is the Czar's
+courier!"
+
+"That man, your Highness, is not a courier of the Czar! He is Ivan
+Ogareff!"
+
+"Ivan Ogareff!" exclaimed the Grand Duke.
+
+"Yes, Ivan the Traitor!"
+
+"But who are you, then?"
+
+"Michael Strogoff!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV CONCLUSION
+
+MICHAEL STROGOFF was not, had never been, blind. A purely human
+phenomenon, at the same time moral and physical, had neutralized the
+action of the incandescent blade which Feofar's executioner had passed
+before his eyes.
+
+It may be remembered, that at the moment of the execution, Marfa
+Strogoff was present, stretching out her hands towards her son. Michael
+gazed at her as a son would gaze at his mother, when it is for the last
+time. The tears, which his pride in vain endeavored to subdue, welling
+up from his heart, gathered under his eyelids, and volatiliz-ing on the
+cornea, had saved his sight. The vapor formed by his tears interposing
+between the glowing saber and his eyeballs, had been sufficient to
+annihilate the action of the heat. A similar effect is produced, when a
+workman smelter, after dipping his hand in vapor, can with impunity hold
+it over a stream of melted iron.
+
+Michael had immediately understood the danger in which he would be
+placed should he make known his secret to anyone. He at once saw, on
+the other hand, that he might make use of his supposed blindness for
+the accomplishment of his designs. Because it was believed that he was
+blind, he would be allowed to go free. He must therefore be blind, blind
+to all, even to Nadia, blind everywhere, and not a gesture at any moment
+must let the truth be suspected. His resolution was taken. He must risk
+his life even to afford to all he might meet the proof of his want of
+sight. We know how perfectly he acted the part he had determined on.
+
+His mother alone knew the truth, and he had whispered it to her in Tomsk
+itself, when bending over her in the dark he covered her with kisses.
+
+When Ogareff had in his cruel irony held the Imperial letter before the
+eyes which he believed were destroyed, Michael had been able to read,
+and had read the letter which disclosed the odious plans of the traitor.
+This was the reason of the wonderful resolution he exhibited during
+the second part of his journey. This was the reason of his unalterable
+longing to reach Irkutsk, so as to perform his mission by word of mouth.
+He knew that the town would be betrayed! He knew that the life of the
+Grand Duke was threatened! The safety of the Czar's brother and of
+Siberia was in his hands.
+
+This story was told in a few words to the Grand Duke, and Michael
+repeated also--and with what emotion!--the part Nadia had taken in these
+events.
+
+"Who is this girl?" asked the Grand Duke.
+
+"The daughter of the exile, Wassili Fedor," replied Michael.
+
+"The daughter of Captain Fedor," said the Grand Duke, "has ceased to be
+the daughter of an exile. There are no longer exiles in Irkutsk."
+
+Nadia, less strong in joy than she had been in grief, fell on her knees
+before the Grand Duke, who raised her with one hand, while he extended
+the other to Michael.
+
+An hour after, Nadia was in her father's arms. Michael Strogoff, Nadia,
+and Wassili Fedor were united. This was the height of happiness to them
+all.
+
+The Tartars had been repulsed in their double attack on the town.
+Wassili Fedor, with his little band, had driven back the first
+assailants who presented themselves at the Bolchaia Gate, expecting to
+find it open and which, by an instinctive feeling, often arising from
+sound judgment, he had determined to remain at and defend.
+
+At the same time as the Tartars were driven back the besieged had
+mastered the fire. The liquid naphtha having rapidly burnt to the
+surface of the water, the flames did not go beyond the houses on
+the shore, and left the other quarters of the town uninjured. Before
+daybreak the troops of Feofar-Khan had retreated into their camp,
+leaving a large number of dead on and below the ramparts.
+
+Among the dead was the gypsy Sangarre, who had vainly endeavored to join
+Ivan Ogareff.
+
+For two days the besiegers attempted no fresh assault. They were
+discouraged by the death of Ogareff. This man was the mainspring of
+the invasion, and he alone, by his plots long since contrived, had had
+sufficient influence over the khans and their hordes to bring them to
+the conquest of Asiatic Russia.
+
+However, the defenders of Irkutsk kept on their guard, and the
+investment still continued; but on the 7th of October, at daybreak,
+cannon boomed out from the heights around Irkutsk. It was the succoring
+army under the command of General Kisselef, and it was thus that he made
+known his welcome arrival to the Grand Duke.
+
+The Tartars did not wait to be attacked. Not daring to run the risk of a
+battle under the walls of Irkutsk, they immediately broke up the Angara
+camp. Irkutsk was at last relieved.
+
+With the first Russian soldiers, two of Michael's friends entered the
+city. They were the inseparable Blount and Jolivet. On gaining the right
+bank of the Angara by means of the icy barrier, they had escaped, as had
+the other fugitives, before the flames had reached their raft. This
+had been noted by Alcide Jolivet in his book in this way: "Ran a narrow
+chance of being finished up like a lemon in a bowl of punch!"
+
+Their joy was great on finding Nadia and Michael safe and sound; above
+all, when they learnt that their brave companion was not blind. Harry
+Blount inscribed this observation: "Red-hot iron is insufficient in some
+cases to destroy the sensibility of the optic nerve."
+
+Then the two correspondents, settled for a time in Irkutsk, busied
+themselves in putting the notes and impressions of their journey in
+order. Thence were sent to London and Paris two interesting articles
+relative to the Tartar invasion, and which--a rare thing--did not
+contradict each other even on the least important points.
+
+The remainder of the campaign was unfortunate to the Emir and his
+allies. This invasion, futile as all which attack the Russian Colossus
+must be, was very fatal to them. They soon found themselves cut off by
+the Czar's troops, who retook in succession all the conquered towns.
+Besides this, the winter was terrible, and, decimated by the cold, only
+a small part of these hordes returned to the steppes of Tartary.
+
+The Irkutsk road, by way of the Ural Mountains, was now open. The Grand
+Duke was anxious to return to Moscow, but he delayed his journey to be
+present at a touching ceremony, which took place a few days after the
+entry of the Russian troops.
+
+Michael Strogoff sought Nadia, and in her father's presence said to her,
+"Nadia, my sister still, when you left Riga to come to Irkutsk, did you
+leave it with any other regret than that for your mother?"
+
+"No," replied Nadia, "none of any sort whatever."
+
+"Then, nothing of your heart remains there?"
+
+"Nothing, brother."
+
+"Then, Nadia," said Michael, "I think that God, in allowing us to meet,
+and to go through so many severe trials together, must have meant us to
+be united forever."
+
+"Ah!" said Nadia, falling into Michael's arms. Then turning towards
+Wassili Fedor, "My father," said she, blushing.
+
+"Nadia," said Captain Fedor, "it will be my joy to call you both my
+children!"
+
+The marriage ceremony took place in Irkutsk cathedral.
+
+Jolivet and Blount very naturally assisted at this marriage, of which
+they wished to give an account to their readers.
+
+"And doesn't it make you wish to imitate them?" asked Alcide of his
+friend.
+
+"Pooh!" said Blount. "Now if I had a cousin like you--"
+
+"My cousin isn't to be married!" answered Alcide, laughing.
+
+"So much the better," returned Blount, "for they speak of difficulties
+arising between London and Pekin. Have you no wish to go and see what is
+going on there?"
+
+"By Jove, my dear Blount!" exclaimed Alcide Jolivet, "I was just going
+to make the same proposal to you."
+
+And that was how the two inseparables set off for China.
+
+A few days after the ceremony, Michael and Nadia Strogoff, accompanied
+by Wassili Fedor, took the route to Europe. The road so full of
+suffering when going, was a road of joy in returning. They traveled
+swiftly, in one of those sleighs which glide like an express train
+across the frozen steppes of Siberia.
+
+However, when they reached the banks of the Dinka, just before Birskoe,
+they stopped for a while. Michael found the place where he had buried
+poor Nicholas. A cross was erected there, and Nadia prayed a last time
+on the grave of the humble and heroic friend, whom neither of them would
+ever forget.
+
+At Omsk, old Marfa awaited them in the little house of the Strogoffs.
+She clasped passionately in her arms the girl whom in her heart she had
+already a hundred times called "daughter." The brave old Siberian, on
+that day, had the right to recognize her son and say she was proud of
+him.
+
+After a few days passed at Omsk, Michael and Nadia entered Europe, and,
+Wassili Fedor settling down in St. Petersburg, neither his son nor his
+daughter had any occasion to leave him, except to go and see their old
+mother.
+
+The young courier was received by the Czar, who attached him specially
+to his own person, and gave him the Cross of St. George. In the course
+of time, Michael Strogoff reached a high station in the Empire. But it
+is not the history of his success, but the history of his trials, which
+deserves to be related.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Michael Strogoff, by Jules Verne
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